CADTH Work Helps Inform Fraser Health’s New Vitamin D Protocol
Vitamin D supplementation has been shown to reduce the rate of falls and fractures, and it has other potential health benefits. However, in Canadian long-term care facilities — where falls, fractures, and vitamin D deficiency are common among residents — there has been no standard for vitamin D supplementation...until just recently.
On November 8, 2011, Fraser Health became the first health authority in Canada to implement an innovative vitamin D protocol of this kind. The protocol indicates a weekly dosage of 20,000 IU of vitamin D for older adults residing in long-term care facilities (excepting those with hypercalcemia or severe renal failure).
The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) contributed to the evidence base for the new protocol, providing environmental scanning work and summaries of evidence on the topic of vitamin D supplementation. This work is presented in the Environmental Scan Vitamin D Supplements for Elderly Patients in Residential Care: Policies and Protocols, and in the two Rapid Response reports Vitamin D Supplementation in Long-Term Care Residents: A Review of the Clinical Effectiveness and Guidelines and Calcium and Vitamin D for Falls and Osteoporosis Prevention: Safety.
CADTH is pleased to have played a supportive role to Fraser Health in this important step toward improving health outcomes for elderly long-term care residents in the Fraser Health region.