Effects of Pre-Natal Vitamin D Supplementation with Partial Correction of Vitamin D Deficiency on Early Life Healthcare Utilisation: A Randomised Controlled Trial.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

However there have been mixed results in this area with some negative studies, especially for effects on atopic and respiratory outcomes.

The researchers examined the effect of prenatal Vitamin D on healthcare utilisation in the first three years of life.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 180 women taking part.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were infants and young children, both men and women.

Participants were randomised in blocks of 15 using computer-generated numbers and investigators were blinded to group assignment.

Primary health economic outcome was overall cost of unscheduled healthcare utilisation in the first three years of life as documented in the child's electronic health record.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

Because people in this Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Secondary outcomes included cost attributable to: primary and secondary healthcare visits, respiratory and atopic complaints, cost in years 1, 2 and 3 of life and cost and frequency of prescribed medication.

All costs were calculated as pounds sterling.

Differences between groups were analysed using unpaired t-test or Mann-Whitney U test, and analysis of variance for adjusted analyses.

What Was Measured

However there have been mixed results in this area with some negative studies, especially for effects on atopic and respiratory outcomes.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Fetal Nutrition Disorders, Health Care Costs, Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Vitamin D and Vitamin D Deficiency.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 180 women.

Results are reported in around 4 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2015 (PloS one), a journal based in United States.

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