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Effect of Vitamin D supplements on cardiac contractile function: Application for funding for additional anaylses in the BEST-D trial

  • 1 September 2012 to 31 March 2014
  • Awards: Pump-priming Awards

The relevance of vitamin D for prevention of cardiovascular disease is uncertain. In a randomized controlled trial, 305 older people were allocated vitamin D or placebo daily for 12 months. Primary outcomes were plasma concentrations of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D and secondary outcomes were blood pressure, and arterial stiffness in all participants at 6 and 12 months, plasma BNP levels in all participants at 12 months, and echocardiographic measures of cardiac function in a randomly selected subset (n=177) at 12 months. Mean (SE) plasma 25-hydroxy-vitamin D concentrations were 50 (SE 2) nmol/L at baseline and increased to 137 (2.4), 102 (2.4), and 53 (2.4) nmol/L in those allocated 4000 IU/d, 2000 IU/d of vitamin D, or placebo, respectively. Vitamin D had no significant effect on mean levels of blood pressure, or arterial stiffness, or on any echocardiographic measures of cardiac function, or plasma N-terminal prohormone of BNP levels at 12 months.

Publications linked to this award:

  1. Clarke R, Newman C, Tomson J, Hin H, Kurien R, Cox J, Lay M, Sayer J, Hill M, Emberson J, Armitage J. Estimation of the optimum dose of vitamin D for disease prevention in older people: rationale, design and baseline characteristics of the BEST-D trial. Maturitas. 2015;80:426-431.
  2. Hin H, Tomson J, Newman C, Kurien R, Lay M, Cox J, Sayer J, Hill M, Emberson J, Armitage J, Clarke R. Optimum dose of vitamin D for disease prevention in older people: BEST-D trial of vitamin D in primary care. Osteoporos Int. 2017;28(3):841-851.
  3. Tomson J, Hin H, Emberson J, Kurien R, Lay M, Cox J, Hill M, Arnold L, Leeson P, Armitage J, Clarke R. Effects of vitamin D on blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and cardiac function in older people after 1 year: BEST-D (Biochemical Efficacy and Safety Trial of Vitamin D). J Am Heart Assoc. 2017 Oct 24;6(10). pii: e005707. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.117.005707.

  4. Berlanga-Taylor, A., Plant, K., Dahl, A., Lau, E., Hill, M., Sims, D., Heger, A., Emberson, J., Armitage, J., Clarke, R. and Knight, J. (2018). Genomic Response to Vitamin D Supplementation in the Setting of a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial. EBioMedicine, 31, pp.133-142.

  5. Beveridge, L., Khan, F., Struthers, A., Armitage, J., Barchetta, I., Bressendorff, I., Cavallo, M., Clarke, R., Dalan, R., Dreyer, G., Gepner, A., Forouhi, N., Harris, R., Hitman, G., Larsen, T., Khadgawat, R., Marckmann, P., Mose, F., Pilz, S., Scholze, A., Shargorodsky, M., Sokol, S., Stricker, H., Zoccali, C. and Witham, M. (2018). Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Markers of Vascular Function: A Systematic Review and Individual Participant Meta‐Analysis. Journal of the American Heart Association, 7(11).
  6. Dr Joseph Tomson J. Doctor of Medicine Thesis (MD). “Vitamin D and cardiovascular disease” (University of Warwick, 2017).