Vitamin D Suggested for Children, Seniors, Those With High-Risk Prediabetes

MONDAY, June 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Empiric vitamin D supplementation is suggested for those aged 1 to 18 years, those older than 75 years, those who are pregnant, and those with high-risk prediabetes, according to an Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline published online June 3 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Marie B. Demay, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues developed clinical guidelines for use of vitamin D to lower the risk for disease among individuals without indications for vitamin D treatment.

The researchers suggest empiric vitamin D supplementation for children aged 1 to 18 years to prevent nutritional rickets and for the potential to reduce the risk for respiratory tract infections; for adults aged 75 years and older due to the potential for reducing mortality risk; for pregnant women due to the potential for reducing the risk for preeclampsia, intrauterine mortality, preterm birth, small-for-gestational-age birth, and neonatal mortality; and for those with high-risk prediabetes due to the potential reduction in the risk for progression to diabetes. The optimal doses for empiric vitamin D supplementation remain unclear. The panel suggests supplementation via daily administration of vitamin D for nonpregnant people older than 50 years for whom vitamin D is indicated, and suggests against empiric vitamin D supplementation above the current dietary reference intake to reduce risk among healthy adults younger than 75 years. There was no evidence found to support routine 25-hydroxyvitamin D screening in the general population.

"Healthy populations who may benefit from higher dose vitamin D supplements are those 75 and older, pregnant people, adults with prediabetes, and children and adolescents 18 and younger, but we do not recommend routine testing for vitamin D levels in any of these groups," Demay said in a statement.

Authors disclosed ties to Amgen and Dexcom.

Abstract/Full Text