Eldecalcitol, a new active vitamin D3 analog, may be beneficial in preventing type 2 diabetes in adults with impaired glucose tolerance, according to a study published in The BMJ.
Tetsuya Kawahara, from the University of Occupational and Environmental Health in Kitakyushu, Japan, and colleagues randomly assigned participants aged 30 years and older with impaired glucose tolerance who were seen in three hospitals in Japan between June 2013 and August 2019 to receive active vitamin D3 (eldecalcitol) or matching placebo for three years (630 and 626 patients, respectively).
The researchers found that 12.5 and 14.2 percent of participants in the eldecalcitol and placebo groups, respectively, developed type 2 diabetes during a median follow-up of 2.9 years (hazard ratio, 0.87; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.67 to 1.17; P = 0.39). Regression to normoglycemia was achieved by 23.0 and 20.1 percent of participants in the eldecalcitol and placebo groups, respectively (hazard ratio, 1.15; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.93 to 1.41; P = 0.21).
Eldecalcitol significantly lowered development of type 2 diabetes after adjustment for confounding variables by multivariable fractional polynomial Cox regression analysis (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.51 to 0.95; P = 0.020). A beneficial effect of eldecalcitol was seen among participants with the lower level of basal insulin secretion (hazard ratio, 0.41; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.23 to 0.71; P = 0.001).
“Although our study suggested the potential for a beneficial effect of active vitamin D3 treatment on the prevention of type 2 diabetes after adjustment for confounding factors, this finding should be replicated in further populations before its significance for public health can be fully appreciated,” the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
