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High-dose Vitamin D improves results of pulmonary rehab programs, researchers in Belgium report
MedScape Today
DENVER, CO — Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who received high doses of vitamin D during rehabilitation show significant improvements in respiratory muscle strength and exercise capacity, according to research presented at the American Thoracic Society 2011 International Conference.
The study on patients undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation was also published in the May issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The improvement in respiratory muscle weakness is a key focus of respiratory rehabilitation for COPD patients. Because low circulating vitamin D levels are commonly associated with muscle weakness, researchers in Belgium theorized that vitamin D supplementation would help with COPD rehabilitation.
“Since muscle weakness, the major target for respiratory rehabilitation, is a common phenomenon in COPD, we explored the additional effect of vitamin D supplementation on rehabilitation,” said Miek Hornikx, physiotherapist and doctoral student in the Department of Pneumology at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.
For the study, 50 COPD patients with a history of exacerbations who were referred for rehabilitation were randomly assigned to receive either a monthly dose of 100,000 IU of vitamin D or placebo.
All subjects participated in a 3-month pulmonary rehabilitation program. At the end of the program, vitamin D levels in the treatment group had increased significantly, compared with the placebo group — from 22.8 ± 15.3 ng/mL at baseline to 53.8 ± 15.6 ng/mL at 3 months.
Patients receiving vitamin D had significant improvements in nearly all measures of COPD. Compared with patients in the placebo group, those receiving vitamin D showed a larger improvement in maximal oxygen consumption and 6-minute walking distance, as well as significantly better improvement in shortness of breath.
