EFFECTIVENESS OF VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENTS IN JAVANESE ETHNIC WITH STABLE ASTHMA IN INDONESIA: IMPROVING ASTHMA SYMPTOMS BY IDENTIFYING VDR GENE POLYMORPHISM

Amelia Lorensia

doi:10.5455/JPHCM.20240706033121

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Monitoring asthma control is crucial as it directly impacts the patient's quality of life. The Asthma Control Test (ACT) questionnaire is used to assess clinical symptoms for asthma control. Vitamin D deficiency can influence asthma symptoms. A study was conducted to evaluate how vitamin D affects symptoms in asthma patients through the identification of VDR gene polymorphism.
METHOD: This research was an experimental study with a pre-post test design method. Sampling with purposive sampling and snowball sampling techniques. To see an increase in clinical symptoms of asthma using a one-way ANOVA test and a descriptive technique for the VDR gene polymorphism test.
RESULT: The study sample was about 26 people aged ≥18 years with a minimum education level of SMA. Vitamin D was given at a dose of 400 IU for 8 weeks. ACT increased significantly in treatment frequency (P=0.011), asthma control (P=0.03, P=0.02), and total ACT (P=0.014, P=0.023). There was a change in the increase in ACT scores at week 0 and week 8 after giving intervention in the form of vitamin D3. Improvements occurred in asthma control rates and total ACT scores. In this study, the distribution of the Taq1 polymorphism was the same between the control and test groups, namely the homozygous wild type.
CONCLUSION: Vitamin D supplementation had been shown to be effective in improving symptom control in asthma patients with wild-type homozygotes.

Key words: asthma symptoms, vitamin D, VDR