title: Vitamin D supplementation and its influence on muscle strength and mobility in community-dwelling older persons: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: It has been suggested that vitamin D status or supplementation is important for maintaining or improving muscle strength and mobility in older adults. The study results, however, do not provide consistent results. We therefore aimed to summarise the available evidence systematically, including only studies conducted in community-dwelling older persons.
  
  
  
  A systematic search of the literature was performed in April of 2016. The systematic review includes studies that used vitamin D with or without calcium supplementation as the exposure variable and various measurements of muscle strength and mobility. The meta-analysis was limited to studies using hand grip strength (HGS) and timed-up-and-go test as the outcome variables.
  
  
  
  A total of 15 studies out of 2408 articles from the literature search were included in the systematic review, providing 2866 participants above the age of 65 years. In the majority of studies, no improvement in muscle strength and mobility was observed after administration of vitamin D with or without calcium supplements. In the meta-analysis, we observed a nonsignificant change in HGS [+0.2 kg (95% confidence interval = -0.25 to 0.7 kg; seven studies)] and a small, significant increase in the timed-up-and-go test [0.3 s (95% confidence interval = 0.1 to 0.5 s; five studies)] after vitamin D supplementation. The meta-analyses showed a high degree of heterogeneity between the studies.
  
  
  
  In conclusion, we observed no improvement in muscle strength after the administration of vitamin D with or without calcium supplements. We did find a small but significant deterioration of mobility. However, this is based on a limited number of studies and participants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rosendahl-Riise
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.|Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Spielau
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.|Kavli Research Center for Geriatrics and Dementia, Haraldsplass Deacon Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Ranhoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Gudbrandsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dierkes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002136:Calcium, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016208:Databases, Factual; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000187:drug effects*; D064887:Observational Studies as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D002136:Calcium, Dietary; D014807:Vitamin D
keywords: ageing; gait; hand strength; muscle strength; vitamin D