Efficacy and safety of oral vitamin D (cholecalciferol) supplement therapy in Stage I primary hypertension; a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, clinical trial in a tertiary care hospital in central India.

Abstract

Introduction : Hypertension is one of the most common cardiovascular disorders. Almost all targets in its therapy are exploited and there is a growing need to search for newer targets. Vitamin D is gaining increasing attention in treatment of primary hypertension. Objectives : To study the efficacy and safety of Vitamin D supplementation on systolic and diastolic BP in patients of primary hypertension (JNC 7 stage I) receiving conventional antihypertensive medications (namely Tab atenolol 50mg or Tab amlodipine 5mg). Methods : It was a prospective, randomized, double blind, parallel, placebo controlled clinical trial with 2 groups of 33 patients each. Both groups had patients receiving conventional antihypertensives (Tab atenolol50mg or Tab amlodipine 5mg). Group A patients were given placebo (lactose tablets) and Group B were given oral Vitamin D₃ (60,000 IU) once weekly at bedtime after meals, repeated every fortnightly for 12 weeks. Results : Patients belonging to Group B showed a statistically significant (p 0.0001) decline in both systolic blood pressure after 12 weeks of receiving vitamin D supplementation. There was no significant change in the safety parameters. Conclusions : Thus, our study shows that Vitamin D supplementation has some role in safely reducing systolic blood pressure after 12 weeks of supplementation and hence it should be supplemented with antihypertensive drugs to the patients with hypertension.