Optimal Vitamin D3 Supplementation Strategies for Acute Fracture Healing

NCT ID: NCT02786498

Last Updated: 2022-03-31

Study Results

Results available

Outcome measurements, participant flow, baseline characteristics, and adverse events have been published for this study.

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

PHASE2

Total Enrollment

102 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2016-11-21

Study Completion Date

2021-12-01

Brief Summary

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The objective is to determine the effect of vitamin D3 supplementation on fracture healing at 3 months.

Detailed Description

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Vitamin D supplements are increasingly being recommended to healthy adult fracture patients without an osteoporotic injury. Although this is a relatively new practice pattern, the basis for this adjunct therapy is grounded in the high hypovitaminosis D prevalence rates (up to 75%) among healthy adult fracture patients, and the strong biologic rationale for the role of vitamin D in fracture healing. Briefly, experimental animal studies have demonstrated that the concentration of vitamin D metabolites is higher at a fracture callus compared to the uninjured contralateral bone, vitamin D supplementation leads to decreased time to union and increased callus vascularity, and increases mechanical bone strength compared to controls. While evidence to confirm that vitamin D supplementation improves fracture healing in clinical studies does not exist, the pre-clinical data are compelling and worthy of further investigation.

With modern orthopaedic surgical care, rates of complications following tibia and femoral shaft fractures can be as high as 15%. Complications, including delayed union, nonunion, or infection often require secondary surgical procedures and result in profound personal and societal economic costs. While surgeons continue to seek advances in surgical technique, it is becoming increasingly obvious that innovations in orthopaedic techniques or implants are unlikely to eliminate complications. As a result, considerable attention is currently focused on adjunct biologic therapies, such as vitamin D.

A recent survey of 397 orthopaedic surgeons showed that only 26% routinely prescribe vitamin D supplementation to adult fracture patients. Of the 93 surgeons who indicated that they routinely prescribe vitamin D supplementation, 29 different dosing regimens were described ranging from low daily doses of 400 IU to loading doses of 600,000 IU. This suggests a high level of clinical uncertainty surrounding the use and optimal dose of vitamin D supplementation in adult fracture patients. If vitamin D supplementation improves fracture healing outcomes, then there is a large opportunity to increase its use; however, before widespread adoption occurs, research is needed to optimize the dosing strategy, establish the dosing safety in the immobilized fracture healing population, and overcome potential medication adherence issues among the often marginalized patients that suffer trauma.

The long-term goal of our research program is to conduct a large phase III RCT to determine which dose of vitamin D3 supplementation optimally improves acute fracture healing outcomes in healthy adult patients (18-50 years). The current proposed phase II exploratory trial will perform important preliminary work to test the central hypothesis that vitamin D3 dose and timing of administration is critical for improving fracture healing at 3 months. This trial will also inform the feasibility of the large phase III RCT.

Conditions

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Fracture

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

OTHER

Blinding Strategy

TRIPLE

Participants Investigators Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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High Loading Dose

150,000 IU loading dose vitamin D3 at enrolment and 6 weeks, plus daily dose placebo for 3 months.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Vitamin D3

Intervention Type DRUG

Placebo

Intervention Type OTHER

High Daily Dose

Loading dose placebo at enrolment and 6 weeks, plus 4,000 IU vitamin D3 per day for 3 months.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Vitamin D3

Intervention Type DRUG

Placebo

Intervention Type OTHER

Low Daily Dose

Loading dose placebo at enrolment and 6 weeks, plus 600 IU vitamin D3 per day for 3 months.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Vitamin D3

Intervention Type DRUG

Placebo

Intervention Type OTHER

Control Group

Loading dose placebo at enrolment and 6 weeks, plus daily dose placebo for 3 months.

Group Type PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Placebo

Intervention Type OTHER

Interventions

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Vitamin D3

Intervention Type DRUG

Placebo

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. Adult men or women ages 18-50 years
2. Closed or low grade open (Gustilo type I or II) tibial or femoral shaft fracture
3. Fracture treated with a reamed, locked, intramedullary nail
4. Acute fracture (enrolled within 7 days of injury)
5. Provision of informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Osteoporosis
2. Stress fractures
3. Elevated serum calcium (\>10.5 mg/dL)
4. Atypical femur fractures as defined by American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) criteria
5. Pathological fractures secondary to neoplasm or other bone lesion
6. Patients with known or likely undiagnosed disorders of bone metabolism such as Paget's disease, osteomalacia, osteopetrosis, osteogenesis imperfecta etc.
7. Patients with hyperhomocysteinemia
8. Patients with an allergy to vitamin D or another contraindication to being prescribed vitamin D
9. Patients currently taking an over the counter multivitamin that contains vitamin D and are unable or unwilling to discontinue its use for this study
10. Patients who will likely have problems, in the judgment of the investigators, with maintaining follow-up
11. Pregnancy
12. Patients who are incarcerated
13. Patients who are not expected to survive their injuries
14. Other lower extremity injuries that prevent bilateral full weight-bearing by 6 weeks post-fracture.
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

50 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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McMaster University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Maryland, Baltimore

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Gerard Slobogean

Associate Professor of Orthopaedics

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Gerard Slobogean, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Maryland

Sheila Sprague, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

McMaster University

Locations

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University of Maryland, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Site Status

McMaster University, Center for Evidence-Based Orthopaedics

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Site Status

Countries

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United States Canada

References

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Sprague S, Petrisor B, Scott T, Devji T, Phillips M, Spurr H, Bhandari M, Slobogean GP. What Is the Role of Vitamin D Supplementation in Acute Fracture Patients? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Prevalence of Hypovitaminosis D and Supplementation Efficacy. J Orthop Trauma. 2016 Feb;30(2):53-63. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0000000000000455.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 26429406 (View on PubMed)

Omeroglu S, Erdogan D, Omeroglu H. Effects of single high-dose vitamin D3 on fracture healing. An ultrastructural study in healthy guinea pigs. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 1997;116(1-2):37-40.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 9006763 (View on PubMed)

Jingushi S, Iwaki A, Higuchi O, Azuma Y, Ohta T, Shida JI, Izumi T, Ikenoue T, Sugioka Y, Iwamoto Y. Serum 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 accumulates into the fracture callus during rat femoral fracture healing. Endocrinology. 1998 Apr;139(4):1467-73. doi: 10.1210/endo.139.4.5883.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 9528922 (View on PubMed)

Lidor C, Dekel S, Edelstein S. The metabolism of vitamin D3 during fracture healing in chicks. Endocrinology. 1987 Jan;120(1):389-93. doi: 10.1210/endo-120-1-389.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 3023034 (View on PubMed)

Lidor C, Dekel S, Hallel T, Edelstein S. Levels of active metabolites of vitamin D3 in the callus of fracture repair in chicks. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1987 Jan;69(1):132-6. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.69B1.3029136.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 3029136 (View on PubMed)

Omeroglu H, Ates Y, Akkus O, Korkusuz F, Bicimoglu A, Akkas N. Biomechanical analysis of the effects of single high-dose vitamin D3 on fracture healing in a healthy rabbit model. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 1997;116(5):271-4. doi: 10.1007/BF00390051.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 9177802 (View on PubMed)

Study to Prospectively Evaluate Reamed Intramedullary Nails in Patients with Tibial Fractures Investigators; Bhandari M, Guyatt G, Tornetta P 3rd, Schemitsch EH, Swiontkowski M, Sanders D, Walter SD. Randomized trial of reamed and unreamed intramedullary nailing of tibial shaft fractures. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2008 Dec;90(12):2567-78. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.G.01694.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19047701 (View on PubMed)

Duan X, Al-Qwbani M, Zeng Y, Zhang W, Xiang Z. Intramedullary nailing for tibial shaft fractures in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 Jan 18;1(1):CD008241. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD008241.pub2.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 22258982 (View on PubMed)

Bhandari M, Guyatt GH, Tong D, Adili A, Shaughnessy SG. Reamed versus nonreamed intramedullary nailing of lower extremity long bone fractures: a systematic overview and meta-analysis. J Orthop Trauma. 2000 Jan;14(1):2-9. doi: 10.1097/00005131-200001000-00002.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 10630795 (View on PubMed)

Bonafede M, Espindle D, Bower AG. The direct and indirect costs of long bone fractures in a working age US population. J Med Econ. 2013;16(1):169-78. doi: 10.3111/13696998.2012.737391. Epub 2012 Oct 22.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23035626 (View on PubMed)

Antonova E, Le TK, Burge R, Mershon J. Tibia shaft fractures: costly burden of nonunions. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2013 Jan 26;14:42. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-14-42.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23351958 (View on PubMed)

Kanakaris NK, Giannoudis PV. The health economics of the treatment of long-bone non-unions. Injury. 2007 May;38 Suppl 2:S77-84. doi: 10.1016/s0020-1383(07)80012-x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 17920421 (View on PubMed)

Bhandari M, Schemitsch EH. Stimulation of fracture healing: osteobiologics, bone stimulators, and beyond. J Orthop Trauma. 2010 Mar;24 Suppl 1:S1. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0b013e3181d2d683. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20182228 (View on PubMed)

Marsell R, Einhorn TA. Emerging bone healing therapies. J Orthop Trauma. 2010 Mar;24 Suppl 1:S4-8. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0b013e3181ca3fab.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20182234 (View on PubMed)

Schoelles K, Snyder D, Kaczmarek J, Kuserk E, Erinoff E, Turkelson C, Coates V. The Role of Bone Growth Stimulating Devices and Orthobiologics in Healing Nonunion Fractures [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2005 Sep 21. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK285118/

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 25879121 (View on PubMed)

Veitch SW, Findlay SC, Hamer AJ, Blumsohn A, Eastell R, Ingle BM. Changes in bone mass and bone turnover following tibial shaft fracture. Osteoporos Int. 2006;17(3):364-72. doi: 10.1007/s00198-005-2025-y. Epub 2005 Dec 15.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 16362144 (View on PubMed)

Hojsager FD, Rand MS, Pedersen SB, Nissen N, Jorgensen NR. Fracture-induced changes in biomarkers CTX, PINP, OC, and BAP-a systematic review. Osteoporos Int. 2019 Dec;30(12):2381-2389. doi: 10.1007/s00198-019-05132-1. Epub 2019 Aug 24.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31446441 (View on PubMed)

Sprague S, Bzovsky S, Connelly D, Thabane L, Adachi JD, Slobogean GP; Vita-Shock Investigators. Study protocol: design and rationale for an exploratory phase II randomized controlled trial to determine optimal vitamin D3 supplementation strategies for acute fracture healing. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2019 Nov 22;5:135. doi: 10.1186/s40814-019-0524-4. eCollection 2019.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 31768262 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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HP-00069705

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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