The evidence

Introduction

The evidence statements from 1 review are provided by external contractors (see Supporting evidence).

This section lists how the evidence statements and expert papers link to the recommendations and sets out a brief summary of findings from the economic analysis.

Economic modelling

The economic model addressed the question: 'What is the most cost-effective way of providing vitamin D to specific population groups (pregnant women, children under 5 years, people aged 65 or over and people whose skin is darker)?' There were not enough data to model this question for 'people whose skin is not sufficiently exposed to the sun'.

There were 2 sets of analysis. The first compared the cost of providing each group with a daily supplement (without testing for deficiency) with the cost of testing everyone and giving those with a deficiency a supplement.

The second analysis looked at increasing uptake of supplements among pregnant and breastfeeding women, and among children up to the age of 5.

See An economic evaluation of interventions to improve the uptake of vitamin D supplements in England.