Vitamin D treatment for the prevention of falls in older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis
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OBJECTIVES: To systematically review and quantitatively synthesize the effect of vitamin D therapy on fall prevention in older adults. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta‐analysis. SETTING: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, LILACS, bibliographies of selected articles, and previous systematic reviews through February 2009 were searched for eligible studies. PARTICIPANTS: Older adults (aged ≥60) who participated in randomized controlled trials that both investigated the effectiveness of vitamin D therapy in the prevention of falls and used an explicit fall definition. MEASUREMENTS: Two authors independently extracted data, including study characteristics, quality assessment, and outcomes. The I 2 statistic was used to assess heterogeneity in a random‐effects model. RESULTS: Of 1,679 potentially relevant articles, 10 met inclusion criteria. In pooled analysis, vitamin D therapy (200–1,000 IU) resulted in 14% (relative risk (RR)=0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.79–0.93; I 2 =7%) fewer falls than calcium or placebo (number needed to treat =15). The following subgroups had significantly fewer falls: community‐dwelling (aged <80), adjunctive calcium supplementation, no history of fractures or falls, duration longer than 6 months, cholecalciferol, and dose of 800 IU or greater. Meta‐regression demonstrated no linear association between vitamin D dose or duration and treatment effect. Post hoc analysis including seven additional studies (17 total) without explicit fall definitions yielded smaller benefit (RR=0.92, 95% CI=0.87–0.98) and more heterogeneity ( I 2 =36%) but found significant intergroup differences favoring adjunctive calcium over none ( P =.001). CONCLUSION: Vitamin D treatment effectively reduces the risk of falls in older adults. Future studies should investigate whether particular populations or treatment regimens may have greater benefit.
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Vitamin D supplementation might reduce falls and improve muscle strength, but the evidence is inconclusive.
“Vitamin D supplementation might also have wide-ranging beneficial effects in reducing falls and improving muscle strength, but evidence is inconclusive; large randomised controlled trials are addressing this hypothesis.102”
From Age-related and disease-related muscle loss: The effect of diabetes, obesity, and other diseases (2014) · cites this paper as [102]
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Nguyen, B. T. T., Lin, A. P., Yang, W.-W., Cheng, S.-J., Kuo, Y.-J., Nguyen, T. T., & Chen, Y.-P. (2024) · Aging Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1007/s40520-024-02902-8 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kalyani, R. R., Stein, B., Valiyil, R., Manno, R., Maynard, J. W., & Crews, D. C.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-07
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1299-1310
- ISSN
- 0002-8614 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-5415
- PMC
- PMC3125705
- OpenAlex
- W1907865805
- Cited by
- 241
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 30
- FWCI
- 3.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (4k12hl087169-10)
- U.S. Public Health Service (T32 90033122)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (K12-HL087169)
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK079637)
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (T32AR048522)
- National Center for Research Resources (KL2RR025006)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Vitamin D Research Studies
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation › Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Bone health and osteoporosis research
- Keywords
- vitamin D supplementation, fall prevention, older adults, calcium supplementation, vitamin D3, fall risk, community-dwelling older adults, fracture history
- MeSH terms
- Accidental Falls, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Male, Vitamin D, Vitamins, Dietary Supplements
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