Administration of vitamin D to ameliorate dyspnea of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Introduction: As one of the most common causes of human morbidity and mortality, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects millions around the world. Some evidences have already considered about association between serum levels of vitamin D and COPD. Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of vitamin D supplementation on COPD improvement. Patients and Methods: This study was designed as a randomized controlled trial. Forty COPD patients with vitamin D deficiency were enrolled into two groups; cases group who administered vitamin D and control group who received placebo. The severity of dyspnea and spirometric indices were analyzed in both groups. Values were presented as mean and standard deviation (SD) and differences were considered significant at the level of P<0.05. Results: Spirometric indices did not show significant differences before and after vitamin D administration (P>0.05). Dyspnea severity was significantly improved after receiving vitamin D supplementation in comparison with placebo consumption (P=0.03). Conclusion: Spirometric indices were not affected during vitamin D supplementation therapy but it showed a significantly positive effect on the curing of dyspnea. Therefore, adjuvant therapy of COPD using vitamin D supplementation is recommended to better handling of dyspnea in COPD cases.