Vitamin D supplementation not beneficial for prevention, progression reduction of UI

Use of oral vitamin D does not result in reduced urgency or mixed urinary incontinence (UI) progression in women, a study reports.

Researchers used data from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) cohorts I and II of women with mild/moderate urgency or mixed UI to assess the relationship between vitamin D intake and UI progression from mild-moderate to severe symptoms. Vitamin D intake at baseline was categorized and updated at the start of each 2–4-year follow-up period.

At baseline, oral vitamin D intake of ≥800 IU per day was identified in 21 percent of 20,560 older women (age range, 58–73 years) in NHS I and in 17 percent of 12,573 middle-age women (age range, 42–59 years) in NHS II.

Urgency/mixed UI progression occurred in 4,853 older women from 2004 to 2012 and in 1,378 middle-age women from 2005 to 2013.

Multivariable Cox analysis revealed no significant associations between vitamin D intake and incidence of urgency/mixed UI progression in either NHS I cohort of older women (relative risk [RR], 1.10, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.99–1.23) or NHS II cohort of middle-age women (RR, 0.88, 95 percent CI, 0.71–1.10).

Despite interest in vitamin D as a low-cost strategy to prevent or reduce UI, the current findings show that oral vitamin D does not protect against urgency/mixed UI progression, the researchers said.