Effects of Vitamin D supplementation on physical activity of patients with Heart Failure

Objective: to see the role of vitamin d supplementation on physical status of patients suffering from congestive heart failure (dilated cardiomyopathy). methods: in this nonrandomized clinical trial,forty three patients with dilated cardiomyopathy who were not showing any significant improvements in physical performance on optimal treatment of heart failure were included. vitamin d (200,000 iu) supplementation on weekly basis for a period of 12 weeks was added to heart failure treatment. and its effect was seen on 6 minutes’ walk distance and pro-bnp levels. spss version 19 was used for data analysis. dependent sample t-test was used to see the significant effect of vitamin d supplementation on pre-intervention vitamin d levels,6mwd and pro-bnp. taking p-value <0.05 as significant. results: on clinical assessment most of the patients were in nyha class ii (65%),the percentages of nyha class i,iii and iv was 19%,9% and 7% respectively. the baseline mean vitamin d level of the study group was 16.59±3.54ng/ml and it raised to 31.97±3.64ng/ml after 12 weeks of supplementation with vitamin d,p value <0.0005. the mean distance travelled by the study group before the intervention was 806±380ft while it increased to 945±393ft after the intervention,p value of 0.008. the mean of pro-bnp level of the study group before the intervention was 1024±635 while it improved to 159±80 after the intervention with a significant p value <0.0005. conclusion: vitamin d supplementation decreases the severity of hf as reflected by reduction in serum pro-bnp levels and significant increase in six minutes’ walk distance. © 2016,professional medical publications. all rights reserved.