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The effect of calcium and vitamin D supplements on blood pressure in postmenopausal women: myth or reality?

Hypertension Research volume 45, pages 1203–1209 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Hypertension is a highly prevalent disease with serious cardiovascular and renal complications. Many studies have demonstrated a weak correlation between the consumption of calcium (or calcium plus vitamin D) and blood pressure, suggesting that calcium supplements might reduce blood pressure. However, the results to date remain controversial. In this study, we assessed the effect of calcium and vitamin D supplementation on the blood pressure of postmenopausal women with hypertension as a population group in which the use of calcium supplements is prevalent. This triple-blind randomized clinical trial enrolled 98 women of postmenopausal age with hypertension in 2019. The study period was 8 weeks with close follow-up. We used 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to record the initial and final blood pressure in all participants. The changes in both the mean systolic (p = 0.047) and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.015) were suggestive of an increase in blood pressure after consuming calcium and vitamin D supplements. Among patients who had been using calcium channel blockers, calcium and vitamin D supplementation caused a notable increase compared to baseline systolic (p = 0.019) and diastolic blood pressures (p = 0.001). The present results differ from those of previous studies. This suggests that calcium supplementation for postmenopausal women with hypertension requires the close observation of blood pressure to prevent any further increase, especially in women who are being treated with calcium channel blockers (clinicaltrial.gov registration: NCT04618952).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Shiraz University of Medical Sciences for approving our protocol and K. Shashok (AuthorAID in the Eastern Mediterranean) for improving the use of English in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiology Department, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Farnaz Sharifi & Javad Kojuri

  2. Professor Kojuri Cardiology Clinic, Shiraz, Iran

    Reza Heydarzadeh, Reza Golchin Vafa, Mohammadhossein Rahmani, Mohammadjavad Mehdizadeh Parizi, Amin Ahmadi, Bardia Zamiri, Mohammad Montaseri & Javad Kojuri

  3. Clinical Education Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Javad Kojuri

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  1. Farnaz Sharifi
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Contributions

FS: study conduction, gathering data, analyzing data. RH: study conduction, randomization, statistical analysis, writing the article. RGV: study conduction, gathering data, randomization, statistical analysis, writing the article. MR: study conduction, gathering data, randomization. MMP: gathering data, randomization. AA: gathering data, randomization. BZ: gathering data, randomization. MM: gathering data, randomization. JK: main researcher, study idea and protocol, study conduction, gathering data, randomization, statistical analysis, writing the article.

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Correspondence to Javad Kojuri.

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Sharifi, F., Heydarzadeh, R., Vafa, R.G. et al. The effect of calcium and vitamin D supplements on blood pressure in postmenopausal women: myth or reality?. Hypertens Res 45, 1203–1209 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-022-00930-3

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