Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation in Hypertensive Patients with Vitamin D Defiency: A Comparative Study

Study Design: to study the effect of Vitamin D3 supplementation on Blood pressure in Hypertensive subjects. Background: Low 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25(OH) D) levels are inversely related to blood pressure (BP) and have been associated with hypertension. We wanted to test the hypothesis that correction of Vitamin D3 deficiency by supplementa- tion lowers BP in patients with hypertension. Methods: We investigated the effect of 1000mg calcium and 1000IU Vitamin D3 per day in a prospective, cohort study in 146 hyper- tensive patients visiting in OPD of NHL Municipal Medical College, Ahmedabad, India Results: A total of 108 patients (mean age 67 ± 3.6years) with a baseline vitamin D3 of 15 ± 3.2 ng/ml completed the study. Compared with Calcium Only group, a significant decrease in the Blood pressure was seen in-group treated with Vitamin D3 and Calcium. 36 subjects (65%) in the vitamin D3-calcium group compared with 27 (51%) subjects in the calcium group showed a decrease in SBP of 15 mm Hg or more (P =0.04). Conclusions: Vitamin D3 supplementation, by a dose that effectively increased vitamin D levels, systolic BP decreased significantly as compared to the diastolic Blood pressure. A larger randomized controlled study is required to further substantiate the results.