Once-Monthly Vitamin D Delivery Decreases Fall Risk in Homebound Older Adults

Delivering a monthly dose of vitamin D to homebound older adults not only boosted their vitamin D levels, but also lowered their rate of falls, according to a pilot study published in the online Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

“Falls in homebound older people often lead to disability and placement in a nursing home,” said the study’s lead author Denise Houston, PhD, RD, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC. “One of our aging center’s goals is to help people maintain their independence and live safely at home for as long as possible.”

Dr. Houston and colleagues tested the feasibility of delivering 100,000 international units of vitamin D once per month for 5 months to 38 older adults in Forsyth County, NC, along with their Meals-on-Wheels meal. An additional 30 older adults living in the same area received a monthly placebo (400 international units of vitamin E) with their Meals-on-Wheels delivery. Participants ranged from age 65 to age 102.

At the study’s start, more than half of all participants had insufficient concentrations of <20 ng/mL of vitamin D in their blood, researchers reported. Less than one-quarter had vitamin D concentrations of ≥30 ng/mL in their blood, which is considered optimal. 

After 5 months of vitamin D supplementation, researchers found that all but 1 of the 34 older adults who received vitamin D supplements had transitioned to from insufficient to sufficient concentrations of the vitamin in their blood, and all but 5 had optimal concentrations of vitamin D. Meanwhile, 18 of 25 participants who received placebo still had insufficient vitamin D levels at the study’s end.

When researchers looked at participants’ falls during the study period, they found, after adjusting for factors including sex, season of year, and fall history, that older adults who received vitamin D supplementation had lower rates of falls. The total number of falls among those that received vitamin D was about half that among those in the placebo group (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jgs.13610/abstract).

The impact of vitamin D supplementation on falls was not unexpected, because vitamin D is known to play a role in maintaining muscle integrity and strength, and previous studies have even suggested vitamin D could decrease fall risk. The researchers welcomed the difference supplementation seemed to make in this vulnerable study population, albeit cautiously. 

“Although these initial findings are encouraging,” said Dr. Houston in a press release, “we need to confirm the results in a larger trial.”—Jolynn Tumolo