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Vitamin D
Deficiency
Increases Fracture Risk
 6:36 p.m. ET (2237 GMT) April 27, 1999
NEW YORK, Apr 27, 1999 (Reuters Health)
Older women who have a
vitamin D deficiency may be at greater risk for
fractures compared with their peers. Half of women who suffered a broken
hip did not have adequate supply of
vitamin D, according to a study in the April 28th
issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
The findings suggest that taking
vitamin D supplements or increasing sun exposure — a
vital source of the vitamin — may reduce the risk of fracture that tends
to increase with age.
“Supplements of about 800 IU
(international units) of
vitamin D per day and calcium may be necessary to
attenuate bone loss in the winter and to reduce fractures,”' reports Dr.
Meryl LeBoff, director of the Skeletal Health and Osteoporosis Program at
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues.
According to 1997 recommendations from
the National Institutes of Health, people aged 51 to 70 should consume 400
IU of
vitamin D a day and people over 70 should consume 600
IU per day.
The study included 98 women past
menopause who had hip replacement surgery, either because of a fracture or
for elective joint replacement. Of the 68 women undergoing elective hip
replacement, 17 had the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, and 51 did
not.
The researchers found that 50% of the 30
women who had a hip fracture were deficient in
vitamin D. Overall, the women with hip fractures had
lower vitamin D than those undergoing elective surgery — regardless of
whether or not they had osteoporosis.
“Vitamin D is required for efficient absorption of
dietary calcium and for normal mineralization of bone,” the authors write.
Reduction in
vitamin D levels impairs calcium absorption and
increases parathyroid hormone production, a factor that can cause bone
loss.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical
Association 1999;281:1505-1511.
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