Vitamin D and immunomodulation in early rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in the context of rheumatoid arthritis.

The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in T helper cell sub-types and osteoclast (OCs) precursors in peripheral blood between patients affected by early rheumatoid arthritis (eRA) and healthy controls.

Why It Was Studied

The effect of administration of cholecalcipherol on clinical and laboratory parameters was subsequently evaluated, by a parallel, randomized double blind, placebo controlled trial.

Eligible patients were female ≥18 years of age with a diagnosis of RA, as defined by the American College of Rheumatology 2010 criteria for <6 months prior to inclusion in the study.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are teenagers, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, women only.

Thirty nine eRA patients and 31 age-matched controls were enrolled and compared for levels of 25OH vitamin D, T helper cell sub-types, OCs precursors including both classical and non-classical and pro-inflammatory cytokines at baseline.

How the Study Was Run

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

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

Groups ran in parallel: each of the participants stayed in one arm throughout.

What Was Measured

The effect of administration of cholecalcipherol on clinical and laboratory parameters was subsequently evaluated, by a parallel, randomized double blind, placebo controlled trial.

The main outcome measures were T cells phenotypes, OCs precursors and inflammatory cytokines.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Age of Onset, Antirheumatic Agents, Arthritis, Rheumatoid, Case-Control Studies, Cell Differentiation, Cholecalciferol and Cytokines.

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 people with rheumatoid arthritis.

The publication is from 2017 (PloS one), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, Rheumatoid arthritis research.