The Effects of Vitamin D and Marine Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation on Chronic Knee Pain in Older US Adults: Results From a Randomized Trial.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in the context of chronic pain: fibromyalgia & crps in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Knee pain from osteoarthritis is frequent in the adult population.

Prior trials have had conflicting results concerning the therapeutic effects of vitamin D on knee pain, and few trials have investigated marine Omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 FA).

Repeated measures modeling was used to test the effect of randomized treatment on WOMAC pain scores over follow-up after adjustment for age and sex.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 25,871 adults were involved.

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

In the double-blind, placebo-controlled Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL), 25,871 US adults were randomized in a 2-by-2 factorial design to receive vitamin D or n-3 FA.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the adults nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

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

The researchers identified a subgroup with chronic knee pain prior to randomization and assessed knee pain at baseline and annually during follow-up using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) (graded on a 0-100 scale, where 100 indicates worst symptoms).

Analyses were repeated for WOMAC function and stiffness.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Chronic Pain, Dietary Supplements, Fatty Acids, Omega-3, Knee Joint, Osteoarthritis, Knee, Vitamin D and Vitamins.

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 25,871 adults in people with chronic pain: fibromyalgia & crps.

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

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 2020 (Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.)), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, Chronic pain: fibromyalgia & CRPS research.