Low Serum Vitamin D Linked to Increased Hip Fracture Risk in Postmenopausal Women
Low serum vitamin D is associated with increased hip fracture risk, according to a nested case-control study in Annals of Internal Medicine.
After adjustment for confounders including age, BMI, and calcium intake, hip fracture risk was significantly higher among women in the lowest quartile of vitamin D relative to those in the highest quartile (odds ratio, 1.7). The vitamin D–hip fracture link persisted even when frailty, physical function, and number of falls were taken into account.
The authors list several study limitations — for example, they were unable to test whether bone mineral density mediated the association between low vitamin D and hip fracture.
