Risk of falling not changed by 1,600 and 3,200 IU Vitamin D - RCT
The Effect of Vitamin D3 Supplementation on the Risk of Falls in a General Population-The Finnish Vitamin D Trial
J Am Geriatr Soc. 2026 Jan 13. doi: 10.1111/jgs.70295 FREE PDF
Toni Rikkonen 1, Sari Hantunen 2, Heikki Kröger 3, Christel Lamberg-Allardt 4, JoAnn E Manson 5, Tarja Nurmi 2, Marjo Tuppurainen 1 6, Ari Voutilainen 2, Tomi-Pekka Tuomainen 2, Jyrki K Virtanen 2
Background: The impact of vitamin D on fall incidence remains controversial. We studied the effect of 5 years of vitamin D3 supplementation on the risk of falls in a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial with generally healthy, community-dwelling men and women in Finland.
Methods: The study included 2495 participants, men aged ≥ 60 and women aged ≥ 65, who were randomized into three arms: 1600 IU/day or 3200 IU/day of vitamin D3 or placebo. A random subgroup of 551 participants underwent more detailed examinations. Falls and fall-related injuries were collected with questionnaires at months 0, 12, 24, 36, and 60. General linear mixed models and generalized linear models were used for analyses.
Results: Over the 5-year follow-up, a similar fall risk of 55% and fall-injury risk of 11% were observed in the placebo, 1600 IU/day, and 3200 IU/day arms, with the mean number of falls and fall-injuries per person-year of 1.26 (95% CI 1.14-1.38) and 0.07 (95% CI 0.06-0.08), respectively. Age, sex, or BMI did not modify the results. In the random subgroup, the mean baseline serum 25(OH)D concentration was 75 nmol/L (SD 18). After 12 months, the concentrations were 73, 100, and 120 nmol/L in the placebo, 1600 IU/day, and 3200 IU/day arms, respectively.
Conclusions: Five-year vitamin D3 supplementation of 1600 IU/day or 3200 IU/day did not affect the overall risk of falls or fall injuries among generally healthy, largely vitamin D sufficient men and women. The findings do not support the use of high vitamin D doses for fall prevention in such populations.
Related in VitaminDWiki
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- Fall prevention - Vitamin D is one of the ways - umbrella review
- Preventing Falls in Older Adults – Vitamin D combination is the best - JAMA Meta-analysis *Falls cut in half by 100,000 IU vitamin D monthly - RCT 2016 Which is double the amount given in the study on this page