Effects of Vitamin D Supplementation on Surrogate Markers of Fertility in PCOS Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 13; no. 2; p. 547
• Main Authors: Lerchbaum, Elisabeth, Theiler-Schwetz, Verena, Kollmann, Martina, Wölfler, Monika, Pilz, Stefan, Obermayer-Pietsch, Barbara, Trummer, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 07.02.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Alfacalcidol; Analysis; androstenedione; anti-Mullerian hormone; Austria; blood serum; Calcifediol; confidence interval; Dehydroepiandrosterone; Drugs; Endocrinology; Enzymes; Estradiol; female fertility; Fertility; Follicle-stimulating hormone; Glycoproteins; Insulin; Laboratories; Luteinizing hormone; Medical colleges; Metabolism; Obesity; Ovaries; placebos; Polycystic ovary syndrome; prasterone; randomized clinical trials; Stein-Leventhal syndrome; Type 2 diabetes; Vitamin D; Austria; United States > US; follicle-stimulating hormone; anti-Müllerian hormone; vitamin D; polycystic ovary syndrome; randomized controlled trial
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu13020547

Vitamin D (VD) might play an important role in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and female fertility. However, evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCT) is sparse. We examined VD effects on anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and other endocrine markers in PCOS and non-PCOS women. This is a post hoc analysis of a single-center, double-blind RCT conducted between December 2011 and October 2017 at the endocrine outpatient clinic at the Medical University of Graz, Austria. We included 180 PCOS women and 150 non-PCOS women with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations <75 nmol/L in the trial. We randomized subjects to receive 20,000 IU of VD3/week (119 PCOS, 99 non-PCOS women) or placebo (61 PCOS, 51 non-PCOS women) for 24 weeks. Outcome measures were AMH, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and androstenedione. In PCOS women, we observed a significant treatment effect on FSH (mean treatment effect 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.087 to 1.799, p = 0.031) and LH/FSH ratio (mean treatment effect −0.335, 95% CI −0.621 to 0.050, p = 0.022), whereas no significant effect was observed in non-PCOS women. In PCOS women, VD treatment for 24 weeks had a significant effect on FSH and LH/FSH ratio but no effect on AMH levels.