Fractures; causes of low vitamin D and effects of 25 [oh] supplementation in patients above 50 years

ABSTRACT

To find out the effect in increase in serum 25 [OH] vitamin D levels after supplementation with 1000 lU/day of vitamin D in patients with low vitamin D levels and other factors which may affect the increase in vitamin D levels. Retrospective study. January 2013 and June 2014. Ch. Rehmat Ali Trust Teaching Hospital in the Lahore. The study included patients > 50 years with a low-energy fracture and a vitamin D level < 25 nmol/l. 85 patients were included, mean basal 25 [OH] vitamin D level was 22 nmol/l. After a mean of 10 weeks, the mean increase in vitamin D was 49.5 nmol/l. Only 45.1% reached the target level of > 50 nmol/l. The increase was correlated with the basal level of vitamin D [p < 0.05], and the time interval between the two vitamin D measurements [p < 0.05] and was inversely related to body weight [p < 0.05], but was not related to age, gender or renal function. We found that the generally recommended dosage of 1000 IU of vitamin D per day resulted in suboptimal serum levels after ten weeks of treatment in more than half of the patients. The increase in vitamin D levels was higher in patients with low body weight and in patients with very low basal vitamin D levels. These data suggest that these patients should initially be treated with higher dosages of vitamin D. If not possible, vitamin D measurements should be performed after at least six months of supplementation with dosage adjustment