TUESDAY, April 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Vitamin D supplementation, with or without calcium, does not reduce the risk of falls by 15 percent or more, according to a trial sequential meta-analysis published online April 24 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Mark J. Bolland, Ph.D., from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and colleagues examined whether there is a need for further research assessing the effect of vitamin D supplements on falls using a trial sequential analysis with a 15 percent risk reduction threshold. The analysis included a cumulative meta-analysis, with a reduction in the risk of false-positive results from repetitive statistical testing by maintaining a 5 percent overall risk of type 1 error.
The researchers found that, based on 20 existing randomized controlled trials involving 29,535 individuals, the effect estimate for vitamin D, with or without calcium, on falls lay within the futility boundary in analysis with a risk reduction threshold of 15 percent. The effect estimate also lay within the futility boundary in a sensitivity analysis with a risk reduction threshold of 10 percent. For trials of vitamin D supplementation (16 trials; 22,291 participants) and trials of vitamin D with calcium (six trials; 9,919 individuals), the effect estimate also lay within the futility boundary in subgroup analysis using a risk reduction threshold of 15 percent.
"In pooled analyses, supplementation with vitamin D, with or without calcium, does not reduce falls by 15 percent or more," the authors write. "Future trials with similar designs are unlikely to alter these conclusions. At present, there is little justification for prescribing vitamin D supplements to prevent falls."
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