Postmenopausal sexual arousal improved 44% by topical vitamin D (not oral) – meta-analysis
The effectiveness of vitamin D as an alternative to FDA-approved treatment and other therapies for managing vulvovaginal atrophy and sexual inactivity in postmenopausal women. A systematic review and meta-analysis
Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2025 doi: 10.1002/ijgo.70011 Eman Youssef 1, Mostafa Saad Badie 2, Doaa Ismail 3, Aliaa Gamal 4, Hala Mohamed Eldamanhoury 5
Background: Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) and sexual inactivity (SI) are prevalent among postmenopausal women (PMW). While hormonal therapies show significant improvement, non-hormonal therapies are considered the first-line for breast cancer women. However, vaginal hormonal therapies are unavailable in all countries, particularly developing countries such as the middle east, and there are no studies that have tested these therapies in women either with a history of breast cancer or those taking endocrine therapies for their cancer.
Objective: We conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of vitamin D (VD), whether alone or in combination with other therapies, in managing VVA and SI in PMW.
Search strategy: A systematic literature search was undertaken on four electronic databases (Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane, and Scopus) from inception until June 2023.
Selection criteria: The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used the vaginal maturation index (VMI) and vaginal pH to measure VVA and vaginal dryness and the female sexual function index (FSFI) to measure SI were included in the meta-analysis.
Main results: Eight RCTs (608 PMW) were included, and 222 were assigned to the VD arm. For the oral VD subgroup, there was no statistically significant improvement in the mean difference (MD) of VMI (MD -7.62, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -23.84, 8.59). However, VMI's topical VD subgroup was statistically significant (25.16; 95% CI: 18.74, 31.59).
For topical form, the total FSFI score (0.24; 95% CI: -1.72, 2.20) and all FSFI domains did not demonstrate statistically significant improvement except arousal (0.56 ; 95% CI: 0.12, 1.00). Vaginal pH's oral VD subgroup showed statistically significant improvement (-0.27, 95% CI: -0.50, -0.05) compared to the topical VD.
Topical VD subgroup (24.45; 95% CI: 7.14, 41.77) showed a statistically significant increase of vaginal superficial cells, in contrast to the oral VD subgroup (3.25; 95% CI: -5.44, 11.96).
Conclusion: Topical VD showed significant improvements in VMI and the arousal subscale of FSFI, whereas oral VD had no substantial improvement except in vaginal pH. VD alone is not a sufficient alternative to other available treatments, and further RCTs are needed to evaluate its effectiveness without any combination with other drugs.
No details in abstract about dose size, type, or where it was applied
Suspect Topical vitamin D was applied directly to the vagina,
Previous studies appear to have found that topical gets about 100X more vitamin D just under the skin than oral vitamin D
Vitamin D Life used to pay about $1,000 a year rent or buy access to studies, but has been running low on funds
Vitamin D Life – Topical Vitamin D category contains:
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17+ Vitamin D Life pages have MENOPAUSAL in the title
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6+ Vitamin D Life pages have SEXUAL in the title
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