Background: Observational studies have suggested associations of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) with respiratory tract infections, impaired bone health, and myriad chronic diseases.
Objective: To assess potential causal relationships between vitamin D supplementation and a reduced risk of these conditions, a review of the evidence across available meta-analyses of randomized control trials (RCTs) and RCTs was performed.
Method: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched from their inception to March 2021. We included only RCTs and meta-analyses of RCTs focusing on the association between vitamin D and respiratory disease, bone health, cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes mellitus, and cancer.
Results: A total of 107 RCTs and 62 meta-analysis of RCTs were included. Although most RCTs did not support benefits of vitamin D supplementation, suggestive evidence for benefit was found in populations at greater risk of VDD and for acute respiratory infections, fractures in institutionalized older adults, type 2 diabetes among patients with prediabetes, and cancer mortality. In contrast, no compelling evidence for benefit was found for other respiratory conditions, fractures in community-dwelling adults, falls, cancer incidence, or CVD.
Conclusions: Current evidence from RCTs and meta-analyses of RCTs is inconsistent regarding the effects of vitamin D supplementation on respiratory infections and chronic diseases. Individuals most likely to benefit are those with baseline VDD or with selected high-risk conditions. Public health initiatives are needed to eliminate VDD globally, and future research will be enhanced by a 'precision prevention' approach to identify those most likely to benefit from vitamin D supplementation.
Keywords: bone health; chronic diseases; respiratory tract infections; vitamin D; vitamin D deficiency.
© 2021 The Association for the Publication of the Journal of Internal Medicine.