The effects of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength and mobility in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomised controlled trials

Abstract Background The results obtained from previous trials regarding the effects of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength and mobility in postmenopausal women have been inconsistent. This systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength and mobility in postmenopausal women. Methods A comprehensive search on EMBASE, PubMed, MEDLINE and SCOPUS was performed to identify relevant articles published up to 28 March 2019. RCTs published in English measuring the effect of all forms and doses of vitamin D supplementation with or without calcium on muscle strength and mobility outcomes in postmenopausal women were included. Results In total, 29 eligible studies were included in the systematic review. The pooled findings using a random effects model showed that vitamin D supplementation insignificantly increased hand grip strength (HGS) as the measurement of muscle strength (MD = 0.656; 95% confidence interval = −0.037 to 1.350, P = 0.06). However, it did not affect timed‐up‐and‐go (TUG) as the measurement of mobility (MD = 0.118; 95% confidence interval = −0.655 to 0.892, P = 0.76). The subgroup analyses showed that vitamin D supplementation improved HGS with respect to dosages >1000 IU day − 1 ( P = 0.016), a treatment duration of 3 months ( P ˂ 0.001) and subjects with baseline vitamin D <30 ng mL − 1 ( P = 0.033). Conclusions The present review demonstrates that vitamin D supplementation resulted in small but nonsignificant improvements in muscle strength compared to control in postmenopausal women. No significant effect was observed in mobility after vitamin D administration.