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Reducing Overuse and Underuse

Routine Vitamin D Testing: Unnecessary and Ineffective

This is a corrected version of the article that appeared in print.

Andy Lazris, MD, CMD
Alan Roth, DO
Patient perspective by Helen Haskell
John James

American Family Physician. 2024;110(3):302-304.

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

This clinical content conforms to AAFP criteria for CME.

ANDY LAZRIS, MD, CMD, is a family physician at Personal Physician Care, Columbia, Maryland.

ALAN ROTH, DO, FAAFP, FAAHPM, is a family physician at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Jamaica, New York.

Address correspondence to Andy Lazris, MD, CMD, at alazris50@gmail.com.

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

  1. 1.Crowe FL, Jolly K, MacArthur C, et al. Trends in the incidence of testing for vitamin D deficiency in primary care in the UK: a retrospective analysis of The Health Improvement Network (THIN), 2005–2015. BMJ Open. 2019;9(6):e028355.
  2. 2.Woodford HJ, Barrett S, Pattman S. Vitamin D: too much testing and treating?. Clin Med (Lond). 2018;18(3):196-200.
  3. 3.LeFevre ML. Screening for vitamin D deficiency in adults: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. Ann Intern Med. 2015;162(2):133-140.
  4. 4.Sattar N, Welsh P, Panarelli M, et al. Increasing requests for vitamin D measurement: costly, confusing, and without credibility. Lancet. 2012;379(9811):95-96.
  5. 5.Bilinski K, Boyages S. The rise and rise of vitamin D testing. BMJ. 2012;345:e4743.
  6. 6.Singer AG, McChesney C. Reduce unnecessary routine vitamin D testing. Can Fam Physician. 2023;69(9):620-622.
  7. 7.Rodd C, Sokoro A, Lix LM, et al. Increased rates of 25-hydroxy vitamin D testing: dissecting a modern epidemic. Clin Biochem. 2018;59:56-61.
  8. 8.McChesney C, Singer A, Duquette D, et al. Do not routinely test for vitamin D. BMJ. 2022;378:e070270.
  9. 9.Lin KW. Vitamin D screening and supplementation in primary care: time to curb our enthusiasm. Am Fam Physician. 2018;97(4):226-227.
  10. 10.Rockwell MS, Wu Y, Salamoun M, et al. Patterns of clinical care subsequent to nonindicated vitamin D testing in primary care. J Am Board Fam Med. 2020;33(4):569-579.
  11. 11.Amrein K, Scherkl M, Hoffmann M, et al. Vitamin D deficiency 2.0: an update on the current status worldwide. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2020;74(11):1498-1513.
  12. 12.Giustina A, Bouillon R, Binkley N, et al. Controversies in vitamin D: a statement from the third international conference. JBMR Plus. 2020;4(12):e10417.
  13. 13.Gallagher JC, Rosen CJ. Vitamin D: 100 years of discoveries, yet controversy continues [published correction appears in Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2023; 11(6): e8]. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2023;11(5):362-374.
  14. 14.Kahwati LC, LeBlanc E, Weber RP, et al. Screening for Vitamin D deficiency in adults: updated evidence report and systematic review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. JAMA. 2021;325(14):1443-1463.
  15. 15.LeBoff MS, Chou SH, Ratliff KA, et al. Supplemental vitamin D and incident fractures in midlife and older adults. N Engl J Med. 2022;387(4):299-309.
  16. 16.Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Dawson-Hughes B, Orav EJ, et al. Monthly high-dose vitamin D treatment for the prevention of functional decline: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(2):175-183.
  17. 17.LeFevre ML, LeFevre NM. Vitamin D screening and supplementation in community-dwelling adults: common questions and answers. Am Fam Physician. 2018;97(4):254-260.
  18. 18.Bjelakovic G, Gluud LL, Nikolova D, et al. Vitamin D supplementation for prevention of mortality in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014(1):CD007470.
  19. 19.Brenner H, Jansen L, Saum KU, et al. Vitamin D supplementation trials aimed at reducing mortality have much higher power when focusing on people with low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations. J Nutr. 2017;147(7):1325-1333.
  20. 20.Arboleya L, Braña I, Pardo E, et al. Osteomalacia in adults: a practical insight for clinicians. J Clin Med. 2023;12(7):2714.

Lown Institute Right Care Alliance is a grassroots coalition of clinicians, patients, and community members organizing to make health care institutions accountable to communities and to put patients, not profits, at the heart of health care.

This series is coordinated by Kenny Lin, MD, MPH, deputy editor.

A collection of Lown Right Care published in AFP is available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/rightcare.

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