Randomized trial of vitamin D3 to prevent worsening of musculoskeletal symptoms in women with breast cancer receiving adjuvant letrozole. The VITAL trial.

What Was Tested

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

Aromatase inhibitor-associated musculoskeletal symptoms (AIMSS) frequently occur in women being treated for breast cancer.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults, women only.

Women with stage I-III breast cancer starting adjuvant letrozole and 25(OH)D level ≤40 ng/ml were eligible.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and placebo-controlled 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.

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

Pain, disability, fatigue, quality of life, 25(OH)D levels, and hand grip strength were assessed at baseline, 12, and 24 weeks.

The primary endpoint was incidence of an AIMSS event.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Bone Density Conservation Agents, Breast Neoplasms, Calcium, Dietary, Chemotherapy, Adjuvant, Cholecalciferol, Letrozole and Musculoskeletal Pain.

Author keywords: AIMSS, Aromatase inhibitor, Arthralgia and Vitamin D.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 7 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2017 (Breast cancer research and treatment), a journal based in Netherlands.

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