Vitamin D supplementation to prevent tuberculosis infection and disease: systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Vitamin D supplementation in double-blind, placebo-controlled tuberculosis prevention trials did not reduce incident tuberculosis infection (aOR 0.97, 95% CI 0.81–1.18) in 9,557 participants.

• Why it matters: Prior randomized trials existed, but an individual participant data meta-analysis was missing, leaving uncertainty about whether vitamin D prevents tuberculosis infection or disease overall or in key subgroups.
• What they did: The authors pooled IPD from four trials (14,619 participants) using one-stage and two-stage mixed-effects models, estimating adjusted odds ratios for tuberculin skin test or Interferon Gamma Release Assay conversion and for incident tuberculosis disease.
• The result: Vitamin D also did not reduce incident tuberculosis disease (aOR 0.78, 95% CI 0.56–1.10), showed no effect modification in prespecified subgroup analyses (including 25-hydroxyvitamin D <25 nmol/L), and serious adverse events and mortality were unaffected.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.