Vitamin D supplementation in the management of knee osteoarthritis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Linear and logistic regression will be used to compare changes between groups using univariable and multivariable modeling analyses.

Why It Was Studied

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common health issue worldwide in the aging population who are also commonly deficient in vitamin D.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 400 subjects taking part.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

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

As a double-blind Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc could be set against what happens without it.

The primary endpoint is loss of knee cartilage volume measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Index of OA (WOMAC) knee pain score.

The secondary endpoints will be other knee structural changes, and lower limb muscle strength.

Several other outcome measures including core muscle images and central blood pressure will be recorded.

Both intention to treat and per protocol analyses will be utilized.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Arthralgia, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Disease Progression, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Muscle Strength, Osteoarthritis, Knee and Tasmania.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 400 subjects.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Results are reported in around 1 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2012 (Trials), a journal based in England.

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