A Trial of Vitamin D Therapy in Patients With Heart Failure

The study is designed as a short pilot study which will assess safety and efficacy of high dose Vitamin D therapy in a heart failure population. A 6 month randomized double blind placebo-controlled trial of 50,000 units of oral vitamin D3(cholecalciferol) weekly plus 800 calcium daily vs. weekly placebo plus 800 calcium alone in 64 heart failure (HF) patients \> 50 years old. This design was chosen over a cross-over design due to the long wash-out period for vitamin D.