Vitamin D Supplementation for Treatment and Prevention of Pneumonia in Under-five Children: A Randomized Double-blind Placebo Controlled Trial.

What Was Tested

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

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 324 children were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as infants and young children, both men and women.

324 children (of 980 assessed) between 6 mo-5 y age (median (IQR): 12 (7,19.8) mo) with WHO-defined severe pneumonia.

Outcome variables: Primary: Time to resolution of severe pneumonia and proportion of children having recurrence of pneumonia in next 6 months; Secondary: Change in serum levels of 25(OH)D; immunoglobulins IgA, IgG, IgM, and cathelicidin 2 weeks following supplementation; and time taken for overall resolution of illness.

How the Study Was Run

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

The children 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.

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

Randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Dietary Supplements, Pneumonia, Recurrence 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 in 324 children.

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

Results are reported in around 8 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2016 (Indian pediatrics), a journal based in India.

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