Randomised controlled trial of calcium and supplementation with cholecalciferol (vitamin D₃) for prevention of fractures in primary care

Further to the study by Porthouse and colleagues (1), a timely meta-
analysis of double-blind randomised, controlled trials of oral vitamin D
supplementation (cholecalciferol) with or without calcium supplementation
vs calcium supplementation or placebo in older persons ( 60 years) has
just been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(2). The authors concluded that oral vitamin D supplementation between 700
to 800 IU/day appears to reduce the risk of hip and any nonvertebral
fractures (by 26% and 23% respectively), but that an oral vitamin D dose
of 400 IU/d is not sufficient for fracture prevention.

References

1. Porthouse J, Cockayne S, King C, et al. Randomised controlled
trial of calcium and supplementation with cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) for
prevention of fractures in primary care. BMJ 2005;330:1003-1008.

2. Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Willett WC, Wong JB, et al. Fracture
Prevention With Vitamin D Supplementation: A Meta-analysis of Randomized
Controlled Trials . JAMA 2005;293:2257-2264.

Competing interests:
None declared