5000 IU Vitamin D daily resulted in lower health care costs - RCT Oct 2023

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Healthcare Costs and Healthcare Utilization Outcomes of Vitamin D3 Supplementation at 5000 IU Daily During a 10.9 month Observation Period within a Pragmatic Randomized Clinical Trial

Nutrients 2023, 15(20), 4435; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15204435
Patrick J. LaRiccia, Teresa Cafaro, Dibato John, Noud van Helmond, Ludmil V. Mitrev, Brigid Bandomer, Tracy L. Brobyn, Krystal Hunter, Satyajeet Roy, Kevin Q. Ng, Helen Goldstein, Alan Tsai, Denise Thwing, Mary Ann Maag, Myung K. Chung

Vitamin D insufficiency has been linked to multiple conditions including bone disease, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Observational studies indicate lower healthcare costs and healthcare utilization with sufficient vitamin D levels. The secondary aims of our previously published pragmatic clinical trial of vitamin D3 supplementation were comparisons of healthcare costs and healthcare utilization. Comparisons were made between the vitamin D3 at 5000 IU supplementation group and a non-supplemented control group.
Costs of care between the groups were not statistically different.
Vitamin D3 supplementation reduced healthcare utilization in four major categories:

• hospitalizations for any reason
  • (rate difference: -0.19 per 1000 person-days, 95%-CI: -0.21 to -0.17 per 1000 person-days, p < 0.0001);
• ICU admissions for any reason
  • (rate difference: -0.06 per 1000 person-days, 95%-CI: -0.08 to -0.04 per 1000 person-days, p < 0.0001);
• emergency room visits for any reason
  • (rate difference: -0.26 per 1000 person-days, 95%-CI: -0.46 to -0.05 per 1000 person-days, p = 0.0131; and
• hospitalizations due to Covid-19
  • (rate difference: -8.47X10−3 per 1000 person-days, 95%-CI: -0.02 to -1.05X10−3 per 1000 person-days, p = 0.0253).

Appropriately powered studies of longer duration are recommended for replication of these utilization findings and analysis of cost differences.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

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Study waited 60 days before cost monitoring, however, Cancers etc. will not respond for years.

Anticipate far lower costs if the cost monitoring started at 12 months and lasted for >36 months

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Vitamin D group had 13% less hospital cost than the control group

Group	Total Hospital $	# of people days	Average $/day
Control	$41,109,649	590,000	$69.67
Intervention	$2,318,500	37,900	$61.16

However, the abstract says: "Costs of care between the groups were not statistically different. "

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It actually takes >150 days for response to plateau, not 60 days (in this study)

• 10,000 IU of Vitamin D for 7 years with no excessive Calcium in 4,800 patients – Dec 2018

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Is 50 ng of vitamin D too high, just right, or not enough (5,000 IU ==> 50 ng)

Vitamin D	Treats
150 ng	Multiple Sclerosis *
80 ng	Cluster Headache * Reduced office visits by 4X *
70 ng	Sleep *
60 ng	Breast Cancer death reduced 60% Preeclampsia RCT
50 ng	COVID-19 T1 Diabetes Fertility Psoriasis Infections Review Infection after surgery
40 ng	Breast Cancer 65% lower risk Depression ACL recovery Hypertension Asthma?
30 ng	Rickets

* Evolution of experiments with patients, often also need co-factors

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