Bacterial cultures and microbiology
During the course of the study, 173 microbiological samples were obtained in the vitamin D3 group (n=62, 2.79/patient) and 301 in the placebo group (n=62, 4.85/patient; p=0.010; table 3). The number of samples with at least one positive finding was higher in the placebo group, with close to statistical significance (p=0.052), while the fraction of positive samples was similar for both groups (table 3). Significantly more patients had a microbiological sample taken from the respiratory tract (≥1 sample) during the study period in the placebo group; OR 2.63 (95% CI 1.17 to 5.92; table 3).