Vitamin D for the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

What It Covers

Researchers studied Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in this meta-analysis publication.

To assess the effects of vitamin D for the management of acute exacerbations and symptoms for people with COPD.

The researchers also performed subgroup analyses to determine whether the effect of vitamin D on the rate of moderate or severe exacerbations was modified by baseline vitamin D status, COPD severity or regular inhaled corticosteroid use.

The researchers used GRADE to assess the certainty of evidence for each outcome.

Why It Was Studied

About one billion people worldwide are estimated to have vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency.

The researchers included double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trials of vitamin D or its hydroxylated metabolites, for adults with a clinical diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease based on the presence of characteristic symptoms and irreversible airflow obstruction.

How the Review Was Done

The researchers searched the Cochrane Airways Trials Register and reference lists of articles.

The researchers also searched trial registries directly, and contacted the authors of studies in order to identify additional trials.

The date of the last search was 24 August 2022.

What Was Measured

The primary outcome was the rate of moderate or severe exacerbations (requiring systemic corticosteroids, antibiotics or both).

The main secondary outcomes of interest were the proportion of participants experiencing one or more exacerbations (moderate or severe), the change in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1, % predicted) and the proportion of participants with one or more serious adverse events of any cause, mortality (all-cause) and quality of life.

The subject headings attached to it are Bias, Disease Progression, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive, Quality of Life, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Vitamin D and Vitamin D Deficiency.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

Its findings take up roughly 18 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2024 (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.