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Calcium, vitamin D failed to reduce postmenopausal joint symptoms
Calcium plus vitamin D supplements did not decrease joint symptoms among postmenopausal women, results from a subgroup analysis of the Women’s Health Initiative show.
“In the current study, we addressed for the first time in a full-scale, randomized clinical trial setting, the clinically relevant question of whether postmenopausal women using calcium and vitamin D supplements in currently recommended dosage would experience any favorable effect on joint pain or swelling, common symptoms in postmenopausal women,” Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, PhD, of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., said in a press release.
The researchers randomly assigned 1,911 patients from the WHI to daily calcium carbonate (1,000 mg) with vitamin D3 (400 IU) or placebo. Questionnaires were used to collect information on joint pain and joint swelling, according to researchers.
“At baseline, total calcium and vitamin D intakes, reflecting both dietary intake and supplement use, were similar in the two randomization groups with non-protocol vitamin D supplement use ≥400 IU daily reported by 42% of the placebo group and 40% of the supplement group, respectively,” Chlebowski and colleagues wrote.
Additional data revealed joint pain and joint swelling were commonly reported among both groups compared with placebo. At 2 years of random assignment to calcium and vitamin D or placebo, data did not indicate significant differences in the frequency of joint pain for supplement and placebo groups (74.6% vs. 75.1%; P=.79) or the frequency of joint swelling (34.6% vs. 32.4%; P=.29).
Patients who took non-protocol calcium supplements may have reported less joint pain compared with those who were assigned to supplement randomization for the study, suggesting a potentially significant interaction of data (P=.02).
These findings reflect the absence of joint symptom relief in the presence of vitamin D plus calcium supplementation in postmenopausal women, the researchers said.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.