SynthesisThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2012
Vitamin D with calcium reduces mortality: patient level pooled analysis of 70,528 patients from eight major vitamin D trials.
Synthesis in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 89 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
89 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 203 citations in OpenAlex.
- 2024 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and Healthy Bones Australia guideline for osteoporosis management and fracture prevention in postmenopausal women and men over 50 years of age.The Medical journal of Australia · 2025Guideline
- Vitamin D and Multiple Health Outcomes: An Umbrella Review of Observational Studies, Randomized Controlled Trials, and Mendelian Randomization Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Pooled it
- Physical Frailty: ICFSR International Clinical Practice Guidelines for Identification and Management.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2019Guideline
- Pooled it
- Non-skeletal health effects of vitamin D supplementation: A systematic review on findings from meta-analyses summarizing trial data.PloS one · 2017Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of high dose, intermittent vitamin D supplementation among older adults.PloS one · 2015Pooled it
- Vitamin D supplementation for prevention of cancer in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- Vitamin D and vitamin D analogues for preventing fractures in post-menopausal women and older men.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- Vitamin D and multiple health outcomes: umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies and randomised trials.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2014Pooled it
- Vitamin D supplementation for prevention of mortality in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- A case study of discordant overlapping meta-analyses: vitamin d supplements and fracture.PloS one · 2014Pooled it
- Vitamin D supplementation and breast cancer prevention: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.PloS one · 2013Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation Are Not Associated With Risk of Incident Ischemic Cardiac Events or Death: Findings From the UK Biobank Cohort.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2018Trial
- Rationale and design of Diabetes Prevention with active Vitamin D (DPVD): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.BMJ open · 2016Trial
- Calcium/vitamin D supplementation, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations, and cholesterol profiles in the Women's Health Initiative calcium/vitamin D randomized trial.Menopause (New York, N.Y.) · 2014Trial
- Calcium supplementation increases blood creatinine concentration in a randomized controlled trial.PloS one · 2014Trial
- Primary hyperparathyroidism and metabolic risk factors, impact of parathyroidectomy and vitamin D supplementation, and results of a randomized double-blind study.European journal of endocrinology · 2013Trial
- Association of 25-hydroxyvitamin D with all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality among individuals incardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome stages 0-3: a cohort study from the NHANES 2001-2018.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2026Article
- Supplements for bone health.Archives of endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Review
29 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors at 15 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionVitamin D may affect multiple health outcomes. If so, an effect on mortality is to be expected. Using pooled data from randomized controlled trials, we performed individual patient data (IPD) and trial level meta-analyses to assess mortality among participants randomized to either vitamin D alone or vitamin D with calcium. SUBJECTS AND
methodsThrough a systematic literature search, we identified 24 randomized controlled trials reporting data on mortality in which vitamin D was given either alone or with calcium. From a total of 13 trials with more than 1000 participants each, eight trials were included in our IPD analysis. Using a stratified Cox regression model, we calculated risk of death during 3 yr of treatment in an intention-to-treat analysis. Also, we performed a trial level meta-analysis including data from all studies.
resultsThe IPD analysis yielded data on 70,528 randomized participants (86.8% females) with a median age of 70 (interquartile range, 62-77) yr. Vitamin D with or without calcium reduced mortality by 7% [hazard ratio, 0.93; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.88-0.99]. However, vitamin D alone did not affect mortality, but risk of death was reduced if vitamin D was given with calcium (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.84-0.98). The number needed to treat with vitamin D plus calcium for 3 yr to prevent one death was 151. Trial level meta-analysis (24 trials with 88,097 participants) showed similar results, i.e. mortality was reduced with vitamin D plus calcium (odds ratio, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.88-0.99), but not with vitamin D alone (odds ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.91-1.06).
conclusionVitamin D with calcium reduces mortality in the elderly, whereas available data do not support an effect of vitamin D alone.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.