A recent randomized controlled trial found that high dose vitamin D supplementation decreased the hospital length of stay for critical care patients.
There is a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among hospitalized patients due to a lack of physical activity and sun exposure. Research has found that low vitamin D levels relate to an increased risk of infection, prolonged length of stay and hospital mortality in critical care patients.
Researchers recently conducted a randomized controlled trial of 31 critical care patients. The patients were divided into three groups: two groups received high doses of vitamin D (250,000 IU or 500,000 IU over five days) and one received a placebo.
The researchers found that the hospital length of stay was inversely related to the vitamin D dose. The average hospital length of stay was 36 days for placebo, 25 days for those who took 250,000 IU and 18 days for those who took 500,000 IU.
Additionally, the length of stay in intensive care also decreased with the higher dose of vitamin D; however, this finding was insignificant.
The authors concluded,
“These data can inform the design of a larger, adequately powered randomized controlled trial on the efficacy of high-dose vitamin D3 on host immunity and other indices associated with recovery.”
Source
14 Sep 2016
Thanks for the story, it is very interesting but there is a big hole in how to use the info.
What is of interest to me is – what are the various blood levels of the patients?
The high vitamin D dosages are important for establishing safe intake limits but it begs the question that the high doses are given to achieve a desired blood level.
I tried to backtrack on the link provided but that was of not much use – actually there was a further link that tried to lessen the advantages of Vitamin D in hospitals.
Do you have a Pubmed link that would assist in blood levels?
Thanks
PS Can we get the webmaster to double the widths of these input windows?