Prenatal high-dose vitamin D supplementation and offspring bone mineral content and density at age 13 years: a secondary analysis of a randomised clinical trial.

Authors

Nicklas Brustad, Tamo Sultan, Nilo Vahman, Signe Kjeldgaard Jensen, Rebecca Vinding, Kristina Aagaard, Peter Michael Gørtz, Christian Haarmark, Klaus Bønnelykke, Bo Chawes

Published in

The Lancet regional health. Europe. Volume 71. Pages 101870. Epub Sep 25, 2026.

Abstract

We previously demonstrated effect of maternal high-dose vitamin D supplementation on offspring bone health in preschool-age children. However, it is unknown whether this effect is long-lasting.
We investigated the effect of 2800 (high-dose) vs. 400 (placebo + standard-dose) IU/day of gestational vitamin D supplementation on the prespecified secondary outcomes (bone mineral content and density (BMC and BMD)) at age 13 years and longitudinally (age 3, 6 and 13 years) in a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial (RCT) (NCT00856947) of 584 children in COPSAC₂₀₁₀. In addition, we investigated the risk of radiologically verified fractures age 0-13 years in a post hoc analysis.
In 416 children (71%) with a DXA scan at age 13 years, there were no differences in a linear regression model in total body BMC (6.7 (-28.3:41.6), p = 0.71) or total body BMD (-0.003 (-0.017:0.011), p = 0.68) among children in the high-dose (n = 212) vs. standard-dose vitamin D group (n = 204). In sensitivity analyses stratified by sex, birth season or maternal pre-interventional vitamin D levels there were no differences between the intervention groups. A mixed effects model of DXA scans from age 3, 6 and 13 years combined also showed no effects and there was no effect on fracture risk until age 13 years in a Cox (time to first) or Quasi-Poisson (incidence) regression model.
This 13-year follow-up of a prespecified secondary outcome of the COPSAC₂₀₁₀ vitamin D RCT did not show any lasting effect on offspring bone mineral content until age 13 years.
The study received funding from the Thrasher Research Fund Award and Kong Christian IX and Dronning Louises Jubilæumslegat.

PMID:
42829785
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 04 Oct 2026.

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