Effect of High-Dose Vitamin D3 on Hospital Length of Stay in Critically Ill Patients With Vitamin D Deficiency The VITdAL-ICU Randomized Clinical Trial
JAMA. Published online September 30, 2014. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.13204
Karin Amrein, MD, MSc1; Christian Schnedl, MD1; Alexander Holl, MD2; Regina Riedl, MSc3; Kenneth B. Christopher, MD4; Christoph Pachler, MD5; Tadeja Urbanic Purkart, MD6; Andreas Waltensdorfer, MD5; Andreas Münch, MD5; Helga Warnkross, MD1; Tatjana Stojakovic, MD7; Egbert Bisping, MD8; Wolfgang Toller, MD5; Karl-Heinz Smolle, MD9; Andrea Berghold, PhD3; Thomas R. Pieber, MD1; Harald Dobnig, MD1,10
Vitamin D helped those who had very low levels (< 12ng) when entering the ICU
(Note: = 42% of patients)
Vitamin D would have helped even more patients if
Had limited the amount of Calcium taken (But this is extremely hard to do in a RCT)
Had provided Omega-3 to increase the benefit of vitamin D to the cells
(The results of Omega-3 are not measures by a blood test, but Omega-3 increases Vit D to the cellsl)
“However, only half of patients treated with vitamin D3 achieved serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels higher than 30ng/mL.”
Would have had significantly more responses > 30ng if they had
Provided other forms of vitamin D - there are about 20 - such as injection
Provided co-factors to increase the response – such as Magnesium ~30% increased response
Had spread the loading dose over a week or so ~20% increased response
Had given the vitamin D after the largest meal of the day ~30% increased response
Items in both categories Trauma-Surgery and Loading Dose are listed here:
- Surgery complications cut in half by 300,000 IU of vitamin D 2 weeks before (hip and knee) – RCT May 2024
- Some ICU patients got 540,000 IU of Vitamin D: good responders lived longer than controls or poor responders – RCT June 2024
- Large dose Vitamin D before surgery was found to help by 35 studies
- Vitamin D is needed before most surgeries – many studies and RCTs
- Half as much AFIB after bypass if 600,000 IU of vitamin D before surgery – RCT April 2022
- ICU mortality reduced by non-oral vitamin D – meta-analysis May 2021
- Taking Vitamin D just before and after surgery helps (open-heart in this case) – RCT Feb 2021
- Half as many problems if take Vitamin D (300,000 IU) before thyroidectomy – RCT Jan 2021
- Fewer days in hospital if 300,000 IU of vitamin D before brain surgery - RCT Feb 2021
- ICU Vitamin D injection (300,000 IU) helped - RCT Feb 2021
- Those getting an injection of 300,000 IU Vitamin D got out of the ICU a week sooner – RCT Dec 2020
- ICU patients greatly helped by Vitamin D loading doses – if gut-friendly – Oct 2020
- Fewer days in ICU after 300,000 IU of vitamin D, but not 540,000 – meta-analysis Aug 2020
- 3X less Septic Shock in children with sepsis getting 150,000 IU of Vitamin D - RCT June 2020
- 100,000 IU daily of Vitamin D for 5 days increased Hemoglobin in Mechanically Ventilated adults – RCT Jan 2018
- Traumatic Brain Injury – 120,000 IU of Vitamin D resulted in 3 fewer days on ventilators – RCT March 2020
- Hip surgery with multiple doses of 50,000 IU of vitamin D weekly both before and after – RCT 2023
- Use of Vitamin D in a trauma surgery - Dr. Matthews on Facebook – Jan 2020
- Surgeries often deplete Vitamin D - 300,000 IU resulted in little response – Nov 2018
- 10 fewer days of ICU Mechanical Ventilation 300,000 IU injection of vitamin D – RCT March 2019
- Intensive Care (ICU) helped by Vitamin D – review of past and on-going studies – Dec 2018
- ICU adults getting 540,000 IU of Vitamin D were 2X more likely to be alive 30 days later – RCT June 2019
- Traumatic Brain Injury recovery helped by injection of 100,000 IU of Vitamin D – March 2019
- Rapidly restore Vitamin D levels with 10,000 IU per kg for children in ICU – RCT 2024
- Esophageal Cancer surgery helped by 300,000 IU of Vitamin D – RCT Sept 2018
- Severe sepsis may be prevented by 400,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT 2023
- Critically ill children – randomized clinical trial to give single doses of up to 400,000 IU of vitamin D – 2019
- Vitamin D loading doses reduce ICU mortality by 30 percent – meta-analysis April 2017
- Hospital ICU added high dose vitamin D - malpractice lawsuit costs dropped from 26 million dollars to ZERO - Oct 2016
- Children in Intensive Care need Vitamin D loading dose of 10000 IU per kg (nearing a consensus) - Oct 2016
- Vitamin D Loading dose - 20,000 IU daily is not enough if obese, etc. (Cancer) great table and chart – Oct 2016
- Rapid Normalization of Vitamin D in Critically Ill Children (10,000 IU per kg) – clinical trial
- VITdAL-ICU - AMA RCT Sept 2014
- Critically ill need vitamin D – how much and which test to use is TBD – Nov 2014
- ICU survival increased with vitamin D single 540K IU loading dose - JAMA Sept 2014
- 540000 IU before ICU raised vitamin D by 25 ng in 2 days – March 2011
- Hip surgery followed by 100000 IU then 1000 IU of vitamin D daily – June 2010
- 600,000 IU intramuscular D3 helped BMD after pancreatic surgery – June 2010
Objective To investigate whether a vitamin D3 treatment regimen intended to restore and maintain normal vitamin D status over 6 months is of health benefit for patients in ICUs.
Design, Setting, and Participants A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-center trial, conducted from May 2010 through September 2012 at 5 ICUs that included a medical and surgical population of 492 critically ill adult white patients with vitamin D deficiency (≤20 ng/mL) assigned to receive either vitamin D3 (n = 249) or a placebo (n = 243).
Interventions Vitamin D3 or placebo was given orally or via nasogastric tube once at a dose of 540 000 IU followed by monthly maintenance doses of 90 000 IU for 5 months.
Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was hospital length of stay. Secondary outcomes included, among others, length of ICU stay, the percentage of patients with 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels higher than 30 ng/mL at day 7, hospital mortality, and 6-month mortality. A predefined severe vitamin D deficiency (≤12 ng/mL) subgroup analysis was specified before data unblinding and analysis.
Results A total of 475 patients were included in the final analysis (237 in the vitamin D3 group and 238 in the placebo group). The median (IQR) length of hospital stay was not significantly different between groups (20.1 days [IQR, 11.1-33.3] for vitamin D3 vs 19.3 days [IQR, 11.1-34.9] for placebo; P = .98). Hospital mortality and 6-month mortality were also not significantly different (hospital mortality: 28.3% [95% CI, 22.6%-34.5%] for vitamin D3 vs 35.3% [95% CI, 29.2%-41.7%] for placebo; hazard ratio [HR], 0.81 [95% CI, 0.58-1.11]; P = .18; 6-month mortality: 35.0% [95% CI, 29.0%-41.5%] for vitamin D3 vs 42.9% [95% CI, 36.5%-49.4%] for placebo; HR, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.58-1.04]; P = .09). For the severe vitamin D deficiency subgroup analysis (n = 200), length of hospital stay was not significantly different between the 2 study groups: 20.1 days (IQR, 12.9-39.1) for vitamin D3 vs 19.0 days (IQR, 11.6-33.8) for placebo. Hospital mortality was significantly lower with 28 deaths among 98 patients (28.6% [95% CI, 19.9%-38.6%]) for vitamin D3 compared with 47 deaths among 102 patients (46.1% [95% CI, 36.2%-56.2%]) for placebo (HR, 0.56 [95% CI, 0.35-0.90], P for interaction = .04), but not 6-month mortality (34.7% [95% CI, 25.4%-45.0%] for vitamin D3 vs 50.0% [95% CI, 39.9%-60.1%] for placebo; HR, 0.60 [95% CI, 0.39-0.93], P for interaction = .12).
Conclusions and Relevance Among critically ill patients with vitamin D deficiency, administration of high-dose vitamin D3 compared with placebo did not reduce hospital length of stay, hospital mortality, or 6-month mortality. Lower hospital mortality was observed in the severe vitamin D deficiency subgroup, but this finding should be considered hypothesis generating and requires further study.
Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01130181
Stayed almost 2X longer in hospital than in ICU
(no indication of how much of hospital time before vs after ICU)
If moderate vitamin D (12-20 ng) - only some improvement in survival
See also VitaminDWiki
- Vitamin D intervention increased by 20 percent the survival of critically ill patients- RCT June 2014
which was the announcement of the results of this RCT - Proof that Vitamin D Works the ICU RCT is proof #48
- 3X more likely to die within 3 months of being in ICU for 2 days if less than 20 ng vitamin D – Sept 2013
- Hospital or ICU death about twice as likely if low vitamin D – March 2014
Austria. observation, no intervention - had the following chart of ICU survival
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki.
Why did JAMA put out such negative PR for such a very positive study?
Press Release by JAMA "High-dose vitamin D for ICU patients who are vitamin D deficient does not improve outcomes"
Administration of high-dose vitamin D3 compared with placebo did not reduce hospital length of stay, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, hospital mortality, or the risk of death at 6 months among patients with vitamin D deficiency who were critically ill, according to a study published in JAMA. The study is being posted early online to coincide with its presentation at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine annual congress.
A high prevalence of low vitamin D levels has been confirmed in patients who are critically ill. Many studies suggest that a low vitamin D status is a significant factor associated with disease severity, mortality, or a shorter survival time in the ICU. However, it is unknown whether a low vitamin D status is an independent contributor to the risk of illness or death for these patients, according to background information in the article.
Karin Amrein, M.D., M.Sc., of the Medical University of Graz, Austria, and colleagues randomly assigned 492 adult ICU patients with vitamin D deficiency to receive either high-dose vitamin D3 (n = 249) or a placebo (n = 243).
For the primary study outcome, length of hospital stay, the vitamin D3 group was not significantly different from the placebo group: 20.1 days vs 19.3 days. There was also no significant difference for length of ICU stay: 9.6 days for the vitamin D3 group vs 10.7 days for the placebo group.
Among the patients in the vitamin D3 group, 28.3 percent died in the hospital compared with 35.3 percent in the placebo group.
After 6 months, 35.0 percent of the patients had died in the vitamin D3 group and 42.9 percent in the placebo group.
Lower hospital mortality was observed in a subgroup of patients with severe vitamin D deficiency, but this finding should be considered hypothesis generating and requires further study, the authors write.
"Among patients with vitamin D deficiency who are critically ill, administration of high-dose vitamin D3 compared with placebo did not improve hospital length of stay, hospital mortality, or 6-month mortality."
That PR resulted in headlines such as
High Dose of Vitamin D among ICU Patients With the Deficiency Does Not Enhance Outcome
Vitamin D supplementation in the ICU does not improve outcomes [VITdAL-ICU trial]
Treating Vitamin D Deficient ICU Patients with Supplements was not Beneficial
Vitamin D Deficient ICU Patients Do Not Benefit From High-Dose Supplementation; No Reduction In Hospital Stay Length, Mortality
Vitamin D Blog: No Help in the ICU
Review of this study
Pediatric Critical Care Medical Website April 2015