Williams Kevin, Askew Christian, Hughes Daniel, Guy Jeffrey A, Jackson Iii J Benjamin, Gauthier Chase
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, Birmingham, USA.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Prisma Health Midlands, Columbia, USA.
Cureus. 2025 May 1;17(5):e83320. doi: 10.7759/cureus.83320. eCollection 2025 May.
Vitamin D is vital for bone mineralization and turnover. Athletes are prone to bone stress injuries (BSIs) when repetitive forces exceed the bone's remodeling capacity. Our study aims to determine if providing supplemental vitamin D to collegiate athletes reduces the incidence of BSIs in this population.
Providing supplemental vitamin D to collegiate athletes will reduce the incidence of BSIs in this population.
This is a prospective cohort study, with a level of evidence of II, which means a lesser-quality prospective cohort with a retrospective comparative cohort.
Two hundred and forty-five collegiate athletes were enrolled from a single institution. Serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25(OH)D) status was measured twice: once in August and once in February. All athletes were provided and subsequently supplemented with 50,000 IU vitamin D3 taken orally once per week for eight weeks. Athletes were monitored during the school year for BSIs. These data were then compared to retrospective stress fracture reports from 2010 to 2015, during which athletes' vitamin D was not screened nor supplemented.
The athletes tested showed seasonal decreases in 25(OH)D levels, but these were consistent across variations in sex and sport. The overall incidence rate of fractures during the season receiving vitamin D supplementation (one of 245, 0.41%) was lower than the cumulative incidence rate of fractures during the five seasons with no supplementation (41 of 1974, 2.08%) with an absolute difference of 1.67%; however, the incidence rate difference was not statistically significant (p=0.073).
This study shows that vitamin D supplementation reduces the incidence of BSI in collegiate athletes, although not significantly so.Further studies are needed to characterize whether vitamin D supplementation can reduce fractures in collegiate athletes.
Vitamin D supplementation in collegiate athletes may reduce the overall incidence of BSIs in this cohort.
维生素D对骨骼矿化和更新至关重要。当重复性外力超过骨骼重塑能力时，运动员容易发生骨应力损伤（BSIs）。我们的研究旨在确定给大学生运动员补充维生素D是否能降低该人群中BSIs的发生率。
给大学生运动员补充维生素D将降低该人群中BSIs的发生率。
这是一项前瞻性队列研究，证据水平为II级，这意味着是一项质量稍低的前瞻性队列研究，并带有回顾性比较队列。
从单一机构招募了245名大学生运动员。血清25-羟基胆钙化醇（25(OH)D）状态测量了两次：一次在8月，一次在2月。所有运动员均获得并随后补充了每周口服一次、每次50000IU的维生素D3，持续八周。在学年期间对运动员进行BSIs监测。然后将这些数据与2010年至2015年的回顾性应力性骨折报告进行比较，在此期间未对运动员的维生素D进行筛查和补充。
接受测试的运动员显示25(OH)D水平有季节性下降，但在性别和运动项目的差异中这些下降是一致的。在接受维生素D补充的季节中骨折的总体发生率（245例中的1例，0.41%）低于未补充的五个季节中骨折的累积发生率（1974例中的41例，2.08%），绝对差异为1.67%；然而，发生率差异无统计学意义（p=0.073）。
本研究表明，补充维生素D可降低大学生运动员中BSIs的发生率，尽管未达到显著水平。需要进一步研究以确定补充维生素D是否能减少大学生运动员的骨折。
对大学生运动员补充维生素D可能会降低该队列中BSIs的总体发生率。
