Vitamin D supplementation for sickle cell disease.

What It Covers

The paper reports a study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, published as a meta-analysis.

To determine the effects of vitamin D supplementation on general health (e.g. growth status and health-related quality of life), on musculoskeletal health (including bone mineral density, pain crises, bone fracture and muscle health), on respiratory health (including lung function, acute chest syndrome, acute exacerbation of asthma and respiratory infections) and the safety of vitamin D supplementation.

They used the GRADE guidelines to assess the quality of the evidence.

Why It Was Studied

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic chronic haemolytic and pro-inflammatory disorder.

This is an update of a previous review.

Who the Included Studies Covered

The age groups tagged for this paper are children.

How the Review Was Done

The researchers searched the Cochrane Haemoglobinopathies Trials Register, compiled from electronic database searches and handsearching of journals and conference abstract books.

Date of last search: 19 March 2020.

The researchers also searched database such as PubMed, clinical trial registries and the reference lists of relevant articles and reviews.

Date of last search: 14 January 2020.

What Was Measured

Two authors independently extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies.

The subject headings attached to it are Anemia, Sickle Cell, Bias, Cholecalciferol, Pain, Quality of Life, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic and Vitamin D.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a meta-analysis of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

Its findings take up roughly 23 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2020 (The Cochrane database of systematic reviews), a journal based in England.

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