Is Vitamin D Beneficial to Knee Osteoarthritis Patients?

Vitamin D supplementation didn’t change cartilage volume or pain scores in patients with knee osteoarthritis, according to recent research.

 

Although vitamin D supplements are generally suggested to patients looking to improve arthritis symptoms, no definitive clinical evidence had proved this claim.
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To investigate, researchers enrolled 413 patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis and vitamin D deficiency from multiple centers in Tasmania and Victoria, Australia, between June 2010 and December 2011.

Patients were randomly prescribed either 50,000 IU of vitamin D3 or a placebo for 2 years.

Researchers conducted MRI scans to assess tibial cartilage volume and evaluated changes in Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) pain scores.

A total of 340 patients completed the study.

After follow-up in December 2013, researchers noted no significant change in tibial cartilage volume or WOMAC pain scores between the 2 groups, although patients were no longer vitamin-D–deficient.

“Among patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis and low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, vitamin D supplementation, compared with placebo, did not result in significant differences in change in MRI-measured tibial cartilage volume or WOMAC knee pain score over 2 years,” researchers concluded. “These findings do not support the use of vitamin D supplementation for preventing tibial cartilage loss or improving WOMAC knee pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis.”

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Jin X, Jones G, Cicuttini F, et al. Effect of vitamin D supplementation on tibial cartilage volume and knee pain among patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2016;315(10):1005-1013. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.1961.