Publication: Study of the safe dosage of ergocalciferol
Issued Date
2015-01-01
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ISSN
01252208
01252208
01252208
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2-s2.0-84953343382
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Mahidol University
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SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand. Vol.98, (2015), S13-S15
Suggested Citation
Narong Bunyaratavej Study of the safe dosage of ergocalciferol. Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand. Vol.98, (2015), S13-S15. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/36604
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Title
Study of the safe dosage of ergocalciferol
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Abstract
© 2015, Medical Association of Thailand. All right reserved. Vitamin D2 or ergocalciferol can replace vitamin D3, but its dosage must be a higher international unit: one unit of vitamin D3 is equal to 4 units of vitamin D2. A proper interval of administration should take 200,000 IU per day. The 123 cases enrolled for study, every case had blood levels of 25 (OH) D and blood calcium checked before intake of vitamin D2 followed by a second check after 2 months. The means of before-intake group was 31.92 ng/ml and after-intake group was 48.62 ng/ml; the pair sample mean was 0.001. We found the level of 25 (OH) D was greater than 70 ng/ml (max = 90), 3.2 percent. Twelve cases showed no response, 9.6 percent. No cases of hypercalcemia or allergic phenomenon were noted. Before the study, we tried a random dosage of 200,000 IU per week and found the pair mean showed nothing significant (p = 0.052). In practice, the dosage of 200,000 IU of vitamin D2 is suitable for treatment of vitamin D deficiency, but for longterm treatment, dosage should be adjusted by monitoring the levels of 25 (OH) D from time to time.