September 2012 - Volume 18 Issue 7

BACKGROUND: In the past decade, increasing attention has focused on identification and treatment of vitamin D deficiency although repletion 
outcomes of pharmacologic vitamin D therapy have not been examined at 
a population level. OBJECTIVE: To investigate population trends and outcomes of pharmacologic treatment of vitamin D deficiency. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from an integrated health system with approximately 3.2 million members. Automated laboratory and pharmacy databases were used to identify patients aged 18 years or older with hypovitaminosis D (defined as a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D] serum level < 20 nanograms [ng] per mL) who newly initiated pharmacologic ergocalciferol (50,000 international units [IU] per week) during 2007-2010 and did not have a prescription for ergocalciferol in the prior 12 months. Patients were required to be continuously enrolled for 12 months before and 6 months after ergocalciferol initiation. Age, gender, race/ethnicity, body mass index, and 25(OH)D levels were obtained from health plan ... READ THE FULL ARTICLE »