Vitamin D2 supplements may help prevent falls among high-risk older women

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Public release date: 14-Jan-2008

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/jaaj-vds011008.php

Contact: L. Prince

rlprince@...

JAMA and Archives Journals

Vitamin D2 supplements may help prevent falls among high-risk older women

Vitamin D2 supplements appear to reduce the risk of falls among women

with a history of falling and low blood vitamin D levels living in sunny

climates, especially during the winter, according to a report in the

January 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the

JAMA/Archives journals.

“Approximately one-third of women older than 65 years fall each year,

and 6 percent sustain a fracture as a result of the fall,” the authors

write as background information in the article. “In addition, fear of

falling is a major problem in older people.”

L. Prince, M.D., of the Sir Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands,

Australia, and colleagues conducted a year-long clinical trial of 302

women age 70 to 90 years living in Perth, Australia. Because vitamin D

is produced in response to sun exposure and the study was completed in a

sunny climate, the researchers selected women with blood vitamin D

levels below the median for the area (24 nanograms per milliliter). All

participants had a history of falling in the previous year and received

1,000 milligrams of calcium citrate per day. Half were then randomly

assigned to take either 1,000 international units of vitamin D2

(ergocalciferol) and half took an identical placebo. Data on falls were

collected from participants every six weeks.

Eighty women (53 percent) in the vitamin D2 group and 95 women (62.9

percent) in the control group fell at least once during the study

period. After adjusting for height, which affected the risk of falling

and was significantly different between the two groups, vitamin D2

therapy reduced the risk of having at least one fall by 19 percent.

“When those who fell were grouped by the season of first fall or the

number of falls they had, ergocalciferol treatment reduced the risk of

having the first fall in winter and spring but not in summer and autumn,

and reduced the risk of having one fall but not multiple falls,” the

authors write.

“It is interesting that the ergocalciferol therapy effect was confined

to those who were to sustain one fall but not those destined to have

more than one fall,” the authors write. “Older people who fall

frequently tend to have more risk factors for falling, including greater

degrees of disability and poorer levels of physical function.” It is

possible that chemically correcting vitamin D levels in the blood is

insufficient to prevent falls in these individuals, they note.

“Ergocalciferol, 1,000 international units per day, added to a high

calcium intake is associated with 23 percent reduction of the risk of

falling in winter/spring to the same level as in summer/autumn,” the

authors conclude.

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(Arch Intern Med. 2008;168[1]:103-108.

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