According to a large study, vitamin D supplements do not reduce the risk of severe asthma attacks, contrary to previous scientific consensus.
A landmark 2016 study caused a stir after researchers found that supplementing with vitamin D tablets reduced the risk of severe asthma attacks requiring a hospital visit from 6 percent to about 3 percent and halved the number of asthma attacks requiring steroid pill treatment.
At the time, the scientists hailed their findings as “exciting discoveries” and added that “some caution is required” as their evidence was based on a limited number of studies in the new field.
As such, the results have not been officially used in politics, but are believed to have influenced the thinking of at least some doctors and patients.
But a study by the same researchers — and for the same medical charity Cochrane — looked at a much larger body of research, much of it from 2016, and came to a very different conclusion.
They found that vitamin D supplements did not affect the risk of a severe asthma attack, although they did not cause harm.
This was stated by the lead researcher Professor Adrian Martino. I: “I was surprised by our results, as our previous review showed that vitamin D supplements reduce the risk of severe asthma attacks based on high-quality clinical trial data. Therefore, we did not expect the outcome to change.
“These results are significant as the clinical trial message in this area has changed from positive ‘vitamin D supplementation likely to reduce risk of severe asthma attacks’ to ‘nil’ – vitamin D supplementation is unlikely to reduce risk.” attacks.”
He added: “The lack of an advantage is disappointing. As long as we are on the positive side, we can reallocate our resources to explore other, more promising avenues and treatments.
Professor Martino stressed that the study did not look at the effects of vitamin D supplements on bone density, meaning that the results are not relevant to people taking supplements for this purpose.
“Vitamin D is commonly given to patients with asthma who are taking inhaled corticosteroids or systemic corticosteroids to maintain bone mineral density, regardless of the perceived benefit of reducing the risk of asthma attacks,” he said.
“So if it’s an indication for vitamin D, then it shouldn’t be stopped. This is an important message. We have shown that vitamin D is safe for asthma patients, so supplementation is not an issue here.”
While the new findings do not change the official guidelines, they likely have an indirect effect on behavior by reversing changes that may have occurred since the first study.
“It is possible that the first study influenced patient behavior, for example, by encouraging self-administration of vitamin D. And the behavior of individual clinicians, such as testing for vitamin D deficiency in patients with asthma who often have exacerbations.[Attacken]and offer supplements when vitamin D levels have been determined to be low,” the professor said.[Attacken]and then offered nutritional supplements if vitamin D levels were low,” said Prof.[aanvallen}envervolgenssupplementenaanbiedenalsdevitaminD-statuslaagbleektezijn’zeideprofessor[attacks][aanvallen}envervolgenssupplementenaanbiedenalsdevitamineD-statuslaagbleektezijn’zeideprofessor[attacks}thenofferingsupplementifvitaminDstatuswasfoundtobelow”theprofessorsaid[aanvallen}envervolgenssupplementenaanbiedenalsdevitamineD-statuslaagbleektezijn’zeideprofessor[attacks}thenofferingsupplementifvitaminDstatuswasfoundtobelow”theprofessorsaid
Anne Williamson of Queen Mary University of London said it was difficult to understand why the results differed so much from those of the second study, other than the fact that there were far more studies being done at the time.
She said: “We are not sure why this updated review came to a different conclusion from our original 2016 study. Perhaps people with asthma are getting better treatment than before.
“Or it could be that the level of vitamin D deficiency has generally decreased over time with increased consumption of supplements or fortified foods.
“Each of these factors may mask the potential benefit of taking vitamin D supplements. Regardless of the cause, these latest findings are likely true for people living with asthma today.”
Dr Erika Kennington, head of research at Asthma+Lung UK, said: “This exciting new study shows that, contrary to our previous belief, vitamin D supplementation does not reduce the risk of asthma attacks. Research into lung diseases like asthma is constantly evolving.”
“However, be aware that taking vitamin D has a number of other health benefits and the government still recommends supplementation in the fall and winter when there is not much sun in the UK.”
The study was conducted for the Cochrane Group, a health policy education charity funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, a leading public funder of clinical research, public health research, and social research. It has been published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
The latest review includes data from 20 trials, up from nine in the 2016 review, and children with asthma are better represented than ever before.
The review team says it also used stricter inclusion criteria compared to some other reviews. For example, they excluded studies in which vitamin D was not compared with placebo and studies in which patients were not followed up for at least 12 weeks.
Source: I News
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