Abstract
Purpose
Preclinical and early clinical research indicates that Vitamin D3 may reduce seizures
in both animal models and open-label clinical trials.
Methods
This is an initial report of an ongoing pilot study of oral Vitamin D3 5000 IU/day
in subjects with drug-resistant epilepsy. After Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval
and informed consent, subjects with ;less than one focal onset or generalized tonic–clonic
seizure per month were enrolled. Subjects entered a 4-week baseline, followed by a
12-week treatment period. Serum 25, OH Vitamin D3, Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN), creatinine,
and calcium levels were monitored at baseline and at 6 and 12 weeks.
Results
High-dose Vitamin D3 5000 IU/day was well tolerated. Serum 25, OH Vitamin D3 levels
increased significantly at six and twelve weeks. Vitamin D insufficiency, defined
as a 25, OH Vitamin D3 level of <20 ng/ml normalized in all subjects with insufficient vitamin D levels. Median seizure
frequency declined from 5.18 seizures per month to 3.64 seizures per month at 6 weeks
and to 4.2 seizures per month at 12 weeks. The median percent change in seizure frequency
was −26.9% at six weeks, and −10.7% at 12 weeks (not significant, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, P > 0.34).
Conclusions
High-dose oral Vitamin D3, 5000 IU/day was safe and well tolerated in subjects with
epilepsy. Vitamin D levels increased significantly at 6 and 12 weeks but never exceeded
potentially toxic levels, defined as >100 ng/ml. To reduce variability, we will now recruit subjects who only have three
or more seizures per month.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Epilepsy & BehaviorAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Vitamin D. Fact sheet for professionals.NIH Office of Dietary Supplements-vitamin D, 2018
- Optimal vitamin D supplemental levels for cardiovascular disease protection.Dis Markers. 2015; 8: 1-10
- Vitamin D intake and incidence of multiple sclerosis.Neurology. 2004; 62: 60-65
- Prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in patients with Parkinson disease and Alzheimer disease.Arch Neurol. 2008; 65: 1348-1352
- Vitamin D status and rates of cognitive decline in a multiethnic cohort of older adults.JAMA Neurol. 2015; 72: 1295-1303
- Vitamin D in epilepsy: vitamin D levels in epilepsy patients, patients on antiepileptic drug polytherapy and drug-resistant epilepsy sufferers.Eur J Clin Nutr. 2016; 70: 140-142
- Low vitamin D levels are common in patients with epilepsy.Epilepsy Res. 2014; 108: 1352-1356
- Vitamin D supplementation for prevention of mortality in adults.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014; CD007470https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD007470.pub3
- Vitamin D3 for the treatment of epilepsy: basic mechanisms, animal models, and clinical trials.Front Neurol. 2016; 7: 218
- Administration of 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 results in the elevation of hippocampal seizure threshold levels in rats.Brain Res. 1984; 298: 125-129
- Anticonvulsant effects of 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D in chemically induced seizures in mice.Brain Res Bull. 2005; 67: 156-160
- Increased severity of chemically induced seizures in mice with partially deleted vitamin D receptor gene.Neurosci Lett. 2006; 394: 69-73
- Correction of vitamin D deficiency improves seizure control in epilepsy: a pilot study.Epilepsy Behav. 2012; 24: 131-133
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 07, 2019
Accepted:
March 3,
2019
Received in revised form:
March 1,
2019
Received:
December 10,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
