Arch Osteoporos (2015) 10: 42 DOI 10.1007/s11657-015-0249-9
LETTER
Randomized controlled clinical trials and meta-analyses Michael Pfeifer 1
Received: 3 November 2015 / Accepted: 9 November 2015 / Published online: 24 November 2015 # International Osteoporosis Foundation and National Osteoporosis Foundation 2015
Dear Editor, We perform randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) according to the principles of Good Clinical Practice (GCP). This ensures not only high scientific quality but also may give important information for primary care physicians being in charge for individual treatment of their patients. Our study on long-term effects of vitamin D and calcium supplementation on the falls and parameters of muscle function in community-dwelling older adults attracted a lot of scientific interest and turned out the be the most highly cited original research article for the period 2009–2011 in Osteoporosis International [1]. On the other hand, this publication was included into the German guidelines on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and men at the age of 60 or older. Therefore, primary care physicians may be well aware of the opportunity for fall prevention just by adding calcium and vitamin D as nutritional supplementation for their patients. These effects of fall prevention were clearly documented by a Kaplan-Meier analysis shown in Fig. 1 of the publication [1]. At month 12, for instance, vitamin D plus calcium supplementation resulted in a 27 % decrease in the number of first fall as compared to calcium alone (RR=0.73; 95 % CI=0.54– 0.96; p
LETTER
Randomized controlled clinical trials and meta-analyses Michael Pfeifer 1
Received: 3 November 2015 / Accepted: 9 November 2015 / Published online: 24 November 2015 # International Osteoporosis Foundation and National Osteoporosis Foundation 2015
Dear Editor, We perform randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) according to the principles of Good Clinical Practice (GCP). This ensures not only high scientific quality but also may give important information for primary care physicians being in charge for individual treatment of their patients. Our study on long-term effects of vitamin D and calcium supplementation on the falls and parameters of muscle function in community-dwelling older adults attracted a lot of scientific interest and turned out the be the most highly cited original research article for the period 2009–2011 in Osteoporosis International [1]. On the other hand, this publication was included into the German guidelines on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and men at the age of 60 or older. Therefore, primary care physicians may be well aware of the opportunity for fall prevention just by adding calcium and vitamin D as nutritional supplementation for their patients. These effects of fall prevention were clearly documented by a Kaplan-Meier analysis shown in Fig. 1 of the publication [1]. At month 12, for instance, vitamin D plus calcium supplementation resulted in a 27 % decrease in the number of first fall as compared to calcium alone (RR=0.73; 95 % CI=0.54– 0.96; p
