Vitamin D Supplementation Prevents Elderly Pneumonia

Tohoku University100 enrolled

Overview

Pneumonia is the fourth leading cause of death and frequently occurs in institutionalized elderly people in Japan. Recently, several clinical and experimental studies have reported the importance of vitamin D in the regulation of immune functions and its deficiency is associated with susceptibility to some infections. In the present study, the investigators hypothesize that deficiency of serum vitamin D is associated with development of pneumonia, and supplementation of vitamin D may lower the incidence of pneumonia and prolong survival in institutionalized elderly subjects.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

100

Conditions

Bacterial Pneumonia

Interventions

Vitamin D3DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Group A and Group C are followed without drugs and Group B is followed with vitamin D3.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 65 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Subjects are more than 65 years old and were resident in the facility for at least 6 months. * Subjects have no conditions known to interfere with vitamin D metabolism. Exclusion Criteria: * Subjects are excluded if they have: * renal failure * hepatic failure * hyper- or hypo-parathyroidism * HIV infection, or malignant diseases * Subjects are also excluded if they are taking corticosteroid, thiazide diuretics, or supplementary vitamins.

Locations (1)

Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University

1-1,Seiryo-machi,Aoba-ku,Sendai, Japan

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

prevalence of pneumonia

Time frame: one year

Secondary Outcomes

all cause mortality

Time frame: one year

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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