Effects of high-dose vitamin D supplementation on the occurrence of post-operative atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting: randomized controlled trial

Objective This study aimed to investigate the preventive effects of a high-dose vitamin D administered preoperatively on the post-operative atrial fibrillation (POAF) occurrence in patients with insufficient or deficient serum vitamin D levels who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. Methods The study was a randomized controlled, blinded and parallel-arm trial conducted on 116 who had vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency during the pre-operative evaluation were included in the study conducted between January 2018 and January 2019. Patients were divided into those who received oral vitamin D (treatment group; n = 58) and those who did not (control group; n = 58) 48 h before CABG surgery. In the treatment group, patients with vitamin D deficiency were administered 300.000 IU vitamin D orally and those with vitamin D insufficiency 150.000 IU 48 h preoperatively. Patients were followed up during hospitalisation process with respect to POAF. Results Both groups showed no significant differences with regard to age, gender, body mass index, creatine level, left atrial diameter, pre-operative drug use, calcium level, ejection fraction, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. The ratio of POAF occurrence found in the treatment and control groups were 12.07% and 27.59%, respectively. Vitamin D treatment was found to reduce the risk of POAF development by 0.24 times ( p = 0.034). Conclusion In this study with sufficient sample size, preoperative short-term high-dose vitamin D supplementation was found to be significantly preventive to the occurrence of POAF in patients with vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency who underwent CABG surgery.