Overview
- Intermountain Health’s TARGET-D trial enrolled 630 patients within a month of a heart attack and reported results Nov. 9 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.
- The strategy targeted blood 25(OH)D levels above 40 ng/mL using monitoring and dose adjustments confined to a 40–80 ng/mL range with calcium checks to limit toxicity.
- Recurrent heart attacks occurred in 3.8% of the targeted group versus 7.9% in controls, while the overall rate of major adverse cardiac events showed no significant difference.
- At enrollment, about 85–87% had vitamin D below 40 ng/mL, and more than half of those treated initially required 5,000 IU of vitamin D3, far above typical 600–800 IU recommendations.
- Investigators reported no safety signals with higher dosing and said a larger trial will test generalizability and broader cardiovascular endpoints as outside experts urged caution pending confirmation.