Bacterial Pneumonia
Conditions
Keywords
vitamin deficiency
Brief summary
Pneumonia is the fourth leading cause of death and frequently occurs in institutionalized elderly people in Japan. Recently, several clinical and experimental studies have reported the importance of vitamin D in the regulation of immune functions and its deficiency is associated with susceptibility to some infections. In the present study, the investigators hypothesize that deficiency of serum vitamin D is associated with development of pneumonia, and supplementation of vitamin D may lower the incidence of pneumonia and prolong survival in institutionalized elderly subjects.
Interventions
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTVitamin D3
Group A and Group C are followed without drugs and Group B is followed with vitamin D3.
Sponsors
Tohoku University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
65 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Subjects are more than 65 years old and were resident in the facility for at least 6 months. * Subjects have no conditions known to interfere with vitamin D metabolism.
Exclusion criteria
* Subjects are excluded if they have: * renal failure * hepatic failure * hyper- or hypo-parathyroidism * HIV infection, or malignant diseases * Subjects are also excluded if they are taking corticosteroid, thiazide diuretics, or supplementary vitamins.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| prevalence of pneumonia | one year |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| all cause mortality | one year |
Countries
Japan
Outcome results
None listed