A clinical trial has shown that vitamin D supplements can reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, in people over 60. The study found a 9% decrease in such events in people taking vitamin D, which requires further research, especially in people taking cardiological drugs.
The results show that monthly vitamin D can prevent heart attacks in people over 60.
A clinical trial, published June 28 by the journal The BMJ, found that vitamin D supplements can reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, in people over 60.
The researchers emphasize that the difference in absolute risk was small, but note that this is the largest study of its kind to date and more research is needed, especially in people taking statins or other drugs for cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an umbrella term for those that threaten the heart or blood vessels and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Cases of CVD, such as heart attacks and strokes, will increase as populations age and chronic diseases become more common.
Observational studies have consistently found an association between vitamin D levels and CVD risk, but randomized controlled trials have found no evidence that vitamin D supplements prevent cardiovascular events, which may be due to differences in study design that may influence outcomes.
To clarify this uncertainty, researchers in Australia set out to investigate whether supplementing older adults with monthly doses of vitamin D changes the incidence of major cardiovascular events.
Their D-Health study was conducted between 2014 and 2020 and involved 21,315 Australians aged 60-84 who randomly received one 60,000 IU vitamin D capsule (10,662 participants) or a placebo (10,653 participants), taken orally at the beginning of each month for up to 5 years.
Participants with a history of high calcium levels (hypercalcemia), hyperthyroidism (hyperparathyroidism), kidney stones, soft bones (osteomalacia), sarcoidosis, inflammatory disease or those already taking more than 500 IU/day of vitamin D were excluded.
The data on hospital admissions and deaths were then used to identify major cardiovascular events, including heart attacks, strokes and coronary revascularizations (treatment to restore normal blood flow to the heart).
The average duration of treatment was 5 years, and more than 80% of participants reported taking at least 80% of the study tablets.
During the pivotal study, 1,336 participants experienced cardiovascular events (6.6% in the placebo group and 6% in the vitamin D group).
The rate of major cardiovascular events was 9% lower in the vitamin D group compared to the placebo group (equivalent to 5.8 minor events per 1,000 participants).
The rate of heart attacks was 19% lower and the rate of coronary revascularizations 11% lower in the vitamin D group, but there was no difference in stroke rates between the two groups.
There was some indication of a stronger effect in people who were using statins or other cardiovascular drugs at the start of the study, but the researchers say these results were not statistically significant.
In total, the researchers calculate that 172 people would need to take monthly vitamin D supplements to prevent one major cardiovascular event.
The researchers acknowledge that there may be slight underestimation of events and that these results may not apply to other populations, especially those with a higher proportion of people who are vitamin D deficient. However, this was a large sample with exceptionally high levels of retention and adherence to the study, and almost complete data on cardiovascular events and death outcomes.
Therefore, the researchers say their results suggest that vitamin D supplementation may reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events. "This protective effect may be more pronounced in people using statins or.
