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Circulating serum vitamin D levels and total body bone mineral density: A Mendelian randomization study.

Journal of cellular and molecular medicine
March 1, 2019
Jing-Yi Sun et al. (7 authors)
Journal ArticleMulticenter StudyResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tHuman Study
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to determine whether genetically increased vitamin D levels, often supplemented with calcium, could improve total body bone mineral density (BMD) in the general population.

Results Summary

The study found no statistically significant association between genetically increased vitamin D levels and total body BMD, consistent with recent clinical trials. Vitamin D supplementation alone may not reduce fracture incidence in adults without vitamin D deficiency, osteoporosis, or prior fracture.

Population

General population (79,366 individuals for vitamin D GWAS; 66,628 individuals for BMD GWAS)

Effective Dosage

Not specified

Duration

Not specified

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (5)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
vitamin D
no change
bone mineral density (BMD), osteoporosis and fracture
-
no convincing evidence
not demonstrated convincing evidence that could improve
#1
vitamin D in combination with calcium supplementation
no change
bone mineral density (BMD), osteoporosis and fracture
-
no convincing evidence
not demonstrated convincing evidence that could improve
#2
genetically increased vitamin D levels
no change
total body BMD
79,366 individuals (vitamin D GWAS) and 66,628 individuals (BMD GWAS)
no statistically significant association
did not show statistically significant association
#3
increased vitamin D levels
no change
BMD
the general population
could not improve
could not improve
#4
vitamin D supplementation alone
no change
fracture incidence
community-dwelling adults without known vitamin D deficiency, osteoporosis, or prior fracture
may not be associated with reduced
may not be associated with reduced
#5
Abstract

Until recently, randomized controlled trials have not demonstrated convincing evidence that vitamin D, or vitamin D in combination with calcium supplementation could improve bone mineral density (BMD), osteoporosis and fracture. It remains unclear whether vitamin D levels are causally associated with total body BMD. Here, we performed a Mendelian randomization study to investigate the association of vitamin D levels with total body BMD using a large-scale vitamin D genome-wide association study (GWAS) dataset (including 79 366 individuals) and a large-scale total body BMD GWAS dataset (including 66,628 individuals). We selected three Mendelian randomization methods including inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis (IVW), weighted median regression and MR-Egger regression. All these three methods did not show statistically significant association of genetically increased vitamin D levels with total body BMD. Importantly, our findings are consistent with recent randomized clinical trials and Mendelian randomization study. In summary, we provide genetic evidence that increased vitamin D levels could not improve BMD in the general population. Hence, vitamin D supplementation alone may not be associated with reduced fracture incidence among community-dwelling adults without known vitamin D deficiency, osteoporosis, or prior fracture.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
AdolescentAdultAgedBone DensityCalciumDietary SupplementsFemaleFractures, BoneGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansMaleMendelian Randomization AnalysisMiddle AgedOsteoporosisPolymorphism, Single NucleotideVitamin D
Study Links
Quality Scores
SafetyNot Assessed
Efficacy20/10
Quality85/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations17
Citations/Year2.8
Relative Citation Ratio0.87
NIH Percentile45.2%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.75
Weight Score2.33
Normalized Score0.45
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Circulating serum vitamin D levels and total body bone miner... | Panacea Index