Vitamin D May Reduce Acute Respiratory Illness in LTC Residents

The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society recently published a study that found high doses of vitamin D could reduce the incidence of acute respiratory illness (ARI) in older, long-term care residents (2016; doi:10.1111/jgs.14679). 

The clinical trial, the first to examine vitamin D’s impact on respiratory infections in nursing home residents, looked at 107 patients, with an average age of 84, over a 12-month period. Of those, 55 received high doses of vitamin D or 100,000 units monthly (averaging 3300-4300 units daily). And 52 received lower doses averaging between 400 to 1000 units daily. 

Those with higher doses saw ARIs cut nearly in half. They also had over double the incidence of falls. “After studying these patients for a year, we found a 40% reduction in acute respiratory illness among those who took higher doses of vitamin D,” stated the study’s lead author, Adit Ginde, MD, MPH, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (Aurora, CO). 

Dr Ginde said that, in older people, tht first line of defense is often impaired. But vitamin D can reinforce it and prevent illnesses like pneumonia, influenza, and bronchitis. It may also prevent infections and exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease like emphysema.

“This is a potentially life-saving discovery,” Dr Ginde said. “There is very little in a doctor’s arsenal to battle ARI, especially since most are viral infections where antibiotics don’t work. But vitamin D seems able to potentially prevent these infections.”

Researchers said this finding requires a confirmatory trial, including whether high daily doses of vitamin D, rather than high monthly doses, makes patients less likely to fall. But Dr Ginde said the primary finding that vitamin D can reduce ARIs is a major step forward in treating these dangerous infections.—Amanda Del Signore