This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Effect of low vitamin D levels for women in menopause still unclear
Whether low levels of vitamin D play a role in menopause-related symptoms still remains to be proven, according to research published online in Menopause.
In a subanalysis of the Women’s Health Initiative, Erin LeBlanc, MD, and colleagues randomly selected 1,407 women from 26,104 potentially eligible participants of the program’s calcium and vitamin D trial of postmenopausal women aged 51 to 80 years. Using blood samples collected during that trial’s baseline visit, researchers measured 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels.
Information about menopause-related symptoms also was obtained at baseline by questionnaire. It included overall number of symptoms and composite measures of sleep disturbance, emotional well-being and energy/fatigue, as well as individual symptoms. After exclusions for missing data, 530 women (mean age, 66 years) were included in these analyses.
The researchers examined the cross-sectional association between 25-(OH)D levels and symptoms, based on current clinical definitions of vitamin D deficiency, insufficiency and sufficiency.
Borderline significant associations were observed between 25-(OH)D levels and total number of menopausal symptoms (P=.05 to .06 for fully adjusted models); after the analysts adjusted for multiple comparisons, no association existed. No associations were found between 25-(OH)D levels and composite measures of sleep disturbance, emotional well-being or energy/fatigue.
“With so many women taking vitamin D supplements these days, it is good to know what it can and cannot do,” Margery Gass, MD, executive director for the North American Menopause Society, said in a press release. “We need to be realistic in our expectations.”
The researchers said their findings do not entirely prove vitamin D and menopause symptoms are not associated because the sample was relatively small and many of the women were years past menopause.
Disclosure: The WHI program was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH, US Department of Health and Human Services.