Vitamin D supplementation of all pregnant women (in UK) would be cost effective – just considering preeclampsia

An estimate of the economic burden of vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women in the United Kingdom.

Gynecol Endocrinol. 2016 Mar 29:1-6. [Epub ahead of print]

Kamudoni P1, Poole C2, Davies SJ3.

1a Research Fellow, Centre for Socioeconomic Research, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University , Cardiff , UK .

2b Senior Lecturer, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, School of Medicine, Cardiff University , Cardiff , UK , and.

3c Consultant Endocrinologist, University Hospital of Wales , Cardiff , UK.

Pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of vitamin D deficiency beyond that of the general population. The aim of the current analysis was to synthesize the current evidence on the dose-outcome relationship of vitamin D/serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) and complications during pregnancy. An additional aim was to estimate the economic burden attributable to inadequate levels of serum 25-OHD. Published literature on the effects of vitamin D supplementation/serum 25-OHD on pregnancy complications, including randomized control trials and non-interventional studies, was searched in bibliographic databases including Pubmed, Google Scholar, Scopus and EMBASE.

A positive and significant treatment effect was obtained for

• pre-eclampsia (OR = 0.75 95% CI 0.662-0.843),

• but not for preterm birth (OR = 0.783, 95% CI 0.49-1.251)

• or small for gestational age (OR = 0.76 95% CI 0.38-1.28).

Inadequate vitamin D accounted for 14.04% of risk for pre-eclampsia. It is estimated that addressing vitamin D inadequacy in pregnant women in England and Wales would reduce the number of cases of pre-eclampsia by 4126; and would result in a net saving of £18.6 million for the NHS in England and Wales. The current results suggest that based on current evidence a public health policy preventing vitamin D inadequacy in pregnant women is likely to have a positive impact on the NHS budget in England and Wales. This is contingent upon further evidence regarding the vitamin D dose-pregnancy outcome relationship becoming available.

PMID: 27023277

Publisher wants $54 for PDF

Notes on study by Vitamin D Life - after purchasing the PDF

• Failed to include costs included for education, distribution, etc.

• Dose sizes of the studies ranged from 200 IU/day to 4 doses of 120 000 IU

• 800 IU daily dose size recommended by study was determined by the maximum licensed in the UK, not the studies

  • 800 IU is rarely enough to make a difference for anyone

• Cost of the vitamin D for pregnancy ~0163~27

• Study did not consider that a loading dose allows the pregnant woman to get the benefit of the vitamin D many months before the small daily dose

Vitamin D Life recommedations for pregnancy

Supplementation with Vitamin D, etc, is extremely cost effective and also very beneficial to mom and infant

• Vitamin D 4,000 to 12,000 IU average daily - depending on weight, pre-existing conditions, distance from equator, etc.
  • probably given as 50,000 IU every 4-14 days

• Risk of preeclampsia might be cut in half if take an amount of Vitamin D – meta-analysis Sept 2017

• Vitamin D loading dose to get the benefits in days instead of months (range of 100,000 to 800,000 IU)

• Omega-3 - amount and dose frequency is TBD

  • Perhaps stop Omega-3 before birth to avoid excessive bleeding
• Magnesium - at least 100 milligrams in the form of Magnesium Chloride

See also Vitamin D Life

• UK would save as least 636 million dollars annually by giving 800 IU vitamin D free to all seniors – June 2014

• Save 2 billion dollars annually in fractures if take Vitamin D and Calcium – Frost and Sullivan Sept 2013

• Vitamin D Webinar - cost of pre-term birth etc- Baggerly Nov 2013

• Routine monitoring of vitamin D during pregnancy is mandatory (Engl. and Port.) - May 2015

• Prenatal VITAMIN D is more important than other prenatal vitamins

• Ensure a healthy pregnancy and infant with as little as $20 of Vitamin D

• Preeclampsia reduced by Vitamin D (50,000 IU bi-weekly) and Calcium – Oct 2015

• Preeclampsia 2.7X more frequent if low vitamin D – meta-analysis Sept 2013

• Clinical trials for pregnancy with Vitamin D intervention – 51 as of Sept 2015

• More vitamin D needed during pregnancy – meta-analysis Oct 2014

• Vitamin D is being used to prevent premature births – Baggerly interview – Dec 2015

• Vitamin D once during pregnancy reduced infant health care costs (300 times ROI) – RCT Dec 2015

• Pregnancy helped by single dose of 60,000 IU of Vitamin D – RCT March 2015

  • one of the references in the study

• Category Cost Savings with Vitamin D has items

  Healthy pregnancies need lots of vitamin D looks at the cost-effectiveness of vitamin D with pregnancy

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📄 Download the PDF for Vitamin D in UK June 2015 from Vitamin D Life