Vitamin D supplementation has no major effect on pain or pain behavior in bedridden geriatric patients with advanced dementia.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, published as a randomized controlled trial.

In a few, earlier, uncontrolled trials, alleviation of chronic pain has been documented by vitamin D supplementation.

This randomized double-blind placebo controlled trial addressed the association between pain and vitamin D deficiency and the effects of vitamin D supplementation on pain in institutionalized aged patients.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

216 long-term care patients were enrolled in Helsinki, Finland.

Pain was assessed by three tools: Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI), Discomfort Behavior Scale, and Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia Scale.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, giving a reference point.

Scores for Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS) and other clinical assessments were also collected from the RAI-database.

Levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25- OHD) and parathyroid hormone were also determined.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Dementia, Dietary Supplements, Immobilization, Pain and Vitamin D.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

Its findings take up roughly 8 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2008 (Aging clinical and experimental research), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, all human trials.