A Clinical Trial to Study the Effect of the Addition of Vitamin D to Conventional Treatment in New Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

There is some evidence that supplemental Vitamin D may contribute to quicker recovery from TB when given in addition to normal TB therapy. This needs to be proven with a controlled clinical trial. People receiving Vitamin D with anti TB therapy will be compared against people receiving anti TB therapy alone to see if vitamin D contributes to a quicker recovery (as shown by a quicker sputum culture conversion).

The proposed study is a parallel, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial to quantify the change, if any, in microbiological outcome in TB patients treated with vitamin D in combination with standard DOTS therapy. It will take place in four South Indian DOTS centres. The required sample size is 250 patients receiving ATT, to be randomised in a 1:1 fashion (125 patients to receive vitamin D and 125 patients to receive placebo).