Respiratory Tract Infection visits 2.5 less likely with vitamin D: Pregnancy 2000 IU, Infant 800 IU – RCT Oct 2014

---

Reduced primary care respiratory infection visits following pregnancy and infancy vitamin D supplementation: a randomised-controlled trial

Acta Paediatrica DOI: 10.1111/apa.12819
Cameron C. Grant1,*, Suhina Kaur2, Ellen Waymouth1, Edwin A. Mitchell1, Robert Scragg3, Alec Ekeroma4, Alistair Stewart3, Julian Crane5, Adrian Trenholme6 andCarlos A. Camargo Jr.7

Aim
To determine whether vitamin D supplementation reduces primary care visits for acute respiratory infection (ARI).

Methods
A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in New Zealand and powered to determine the vitamin D dose needed to achieve normal vitamin D status during infancy. Healthy pregnant women, from 27 weeks gestation to birth, and their infants, from birth to age 6 months, were assigned to placebo or one of two dosages of daily oral vitamin D3. Woman/infant pairs were randomised to: placebo/placebo, 1000IU/400IU, or 2000IU/800IU.For this ad hoc analysis, the primary care records of enrolled children were audited to age 18 months.

Results
Two-hundred-and-sixty pregnant women were randomised to placebo (n=87), lower-dose (n=87) or higher-dose (n=86) vitamin D3. In comparison with the placebo group (99%), the proportion of children making any ARI visits was smaller in the higher-dose (87%, P=0.004), but not the lower-dose vitamin D3 group (95%, P=0.17). The median number of ARI visits/child was less in the higher-dose vitamin D3 group from age 6-18 months (placebo 4, lower-dose 3, higher-dose 2.5; P=0.048 for higher-dose vitamin D3 vs. placebo).

Conclusion
Vitamin D3 supplementation during pregnancy and infancy reduces primary care visits for ARI during early childhood.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Publisher rents PDF for $6

---

See also VitaminDWiki

• Respiratory Tract Infection risk reduced 2X by Vitamin D loading doses – meta-analysis Jan 2021
• Respiratory infections reduced by 63 percent with 4000 IU vitamin D daily - RCT Dec 2012
• Respiratory infections (RTI) cut in half by 20,000 IU weekly vitamin D if initially deficient – RCT March 2015
• Respiratory tract infection eliminated in 36 percent of people by 4000 IU of Vitamin D – RCT Sept 2015
• Acute respiratory tract infections prevented by vitamin D (even when ignoring the dose size – Meta-analysis Feb 2017
• Vitamin D reduces respiratory tract infections by 40 percent– meta-analysis Dec 2012
• Reduced viral respiratory tract infections by half by having more than 38 ng of vitamin D – June 2010

---

There have been 12828 visits to this page