Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25516361›Full record

SynthesisOsteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA2015

Does vitamin K2 play a role in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis for postmenopausal women: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Z-B Huang, S-L Wan, Y-J Lu, L Ning, C Liu, S-W Fan

Abstract readMeta-Analysis
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
61citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
4.4field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

61 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Effect of vitamin K on bone mineral density and fractures in adults: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2019
    Pooled it
  5. The efficacy and safety of menatetrenone in the management of osteoporosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2019
    Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
  7. Trial
  8. The effect of vitamin MK-7 on bone mineral density and microarchitecture in postmenopausal women with osteopenia, a 3-year randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2021
    Trial
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Supplements for bone health.Archives of endocrinology and metabolism · 2025
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Suppressive effect of vitamin KJapanese journal of radiology · 2025
    Article
  18. Review
  19. Review
  20. Review

1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Z-B HuangDepartment of Orthopaedics, Hangzhou Xiasha Hospital, 368 Xiasha Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
S-L Wan
Y-J Lu
L Ning
C Liu
S-W Fan
Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital · CNHangzhou Xixi hospital · CNShaoxing People's Hospital · CNZhejiang University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

unlabelledTo identify the role of vitamin K2 for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, we conducted this meta-analysis of 19 randomized controlled trials. Our results showed that vitamin K2 might play a role in maintaining the bone mineral density and in reducing the incidence of fractures for postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

introductionVitamin K2 has been revealed to be effective in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in Japan, which was not confirmed in western countries. Thus, we conduct this meta-analysis to verify the hypothesis that vitamin K2 plays a role in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis for postmenopausal women.

methodsWe searched the Cochrane Library, Pub Med, EMBASE, and ISI web of knowledge (until December 1, 2013) and reference lists of eligible articles. A meta-analysis of all-including randomized controlled trials was then performed.

resultsNineteen randomized controlled trials encompassing 6759 participants have met the inclusion criteria. Subgroup analysis of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis revealed a significant improvement of vertebral BMD for both medium-term and long-term results favoring vitamin K2 group (p < 0.00001 and p = 0.0005). However, no significant difference in BMD changes was revealed for the non-osteoporosis subgroup analysis. As for the incidence of fractures, pooled analysis of the seven related studies demonstrated no significant difference in the incidence of fractures favoring vitamin K2 (RR = 0.63, p = 0.08). However, sensitivity analysis by rejecting the study inducing heterogeneity demonstrated a significant difference in the incidence of fractures favoring vitamin K2 (RR = 0.50, p = 0.0005). Significant differences were found in undercarboxylated osteocalcin reduction and osteocalcin increment. The result of adverse reaction analysis showed that vitamin K2 group seemed to have a higher adverse reaction rate (RR = 1.22, p = 0.06).

conclusionsThis meta-analysis seemed to support the hypothesis that vitamin K2 plays kind of a role in the maintenance and improvement of vertebral BMD and the prevention of fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The reduction of undercarboxylated osteocalcin and increment of osteocalcin may have some relation to the process of bone mineralization. However, the effect of vitamin K2 for postmenopausal women without osteoporosis had not been identified. Further high-quality RCTs with large sample size are needed to confirm the role of vitamin K2 in osteoporosis for postmenopausal women.

Indexed as

AgedAged, 80 and overBone DensityFemaleHumansMiddle AgedOsteocalcinOsteoporosis, PostmenopausalOsteoporotic FracturesRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicTreatment OutcomeVitamin K 2VitaminsOsteocalcinVitamin K 2Vitamins

Identifiers

PMID25516361
OpenAlexW2050810878

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.