Effect of vitamin D3 on mild to moderate persistent asthmatic patients: A randomized controlled pilot study

Abstract

Background: Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the bronchial airways. Well defined treatment options for asthma are very few. The role of vitamin D 3 on asthma is still baffling. Aim: We have examined the effect of vitamin D 3 supplementation in mild to moderate persistent asthma patients. Materials and Methods: We conducted an open labeled, randomized comparative trial in 48 asthma patients. The study duration was about 90 days. The study had a run-in-period of 2 weeks. At the end of run-in-period, patients were divided into two groups: Usual care group (n = 31) patients received budesonide and formoterol and intervention care group (n = 32) patients received vitamin D 3 supplementation along with their regular medicine. Results: The primary outcome of the study was to measure the improvement in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ). Patients in both groups had a significant improvement in FEV 1 at the end of the study. The mean difference in percentage predicted FEV 1 in usual care and intervention care group was 4.95 and 7.07 respectively. Conclusion: The study concluded that adjunctive therapy of vitamin D 3 is effective in asthma patients. The present study will be an evidence based report; however, future studies are warranted in longer duration of time to substantiate the present findings.

Keywords

• Asthma
• budesonide
• forced expiratory volume in 1 s
• formoterol
• vitamin D 3