BMJ Paediatr Open. 2024 Apr 10;8(1):e002495. doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2024-002495.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether weekly oral vitamin D supplementation influences growth, body composition, pubertal development or spirometric outcomes in South African schoolchildren.
DESIGN: Phase 3 double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial.
SETTING: Socioeconomically disadvantaged peri-urban district of Cape Town, South Africa.
PARTICIPANTS: 1682 children of black African ancestry attending government primary schools and aged 6-11 years at baseline.
INTERVENTIONS: Oral vitamin D3 (10 000 IU/week) versus placebo for 3 years.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Height-for-age and body mass index-for-age, measured in all participants; Tanner scores for pubertal development, spirometric lung volumes and body composition, measured in a subset of 450 children who additionally took part in a nested substudy.
RESULTS: Mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 concentration at 3-year follow-up was higher among children randomised to receive vitamin D versus placebo (104.3 vs 64.7 nmol/L, respectively; mean difference (MD) 39.7 nmol/L, 95% CI 37.6 to 41.9 nmol/L). No statistically significant differences in height-for-age z-score (adjusted MD (aMD) -0.08, 95% CI -0.19 to 0.03) or body mass index-for-age z-score (aMD -0.04, 95% CI -0.16 to 0.07) were seen between vitamin D versus placebo groups at follow-up. Among substudy participants, allocation to vitamin D versus placebo did not influence pubertal development scores, % predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), % predicted forced vital capacity (FVC), % predicted FEV1/FVC, fat mass or fat-free mass.
CONCLUSIONS: Weekly oral administration of 10 000 IU vitamin D3 boosted vitamin D status but did not influence growth, body composition, pubertal development or spirometric outcomes in South African schoolchildren.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02880982, South African National Clinical Trials Register DOH-27-0916-5527.
PMID:38599800 | DOI:10.1136/bmjpo-2024-002495
