Elderly Falls Linked to Vitamin Deficiency

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Elderly falls linked to vitamin deficiency

by Rachel Nowak, Melbourne

09:30 01 December 03

 

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?fidylid=ns99994433

 

An unexpected risk factor for the potentially fatal falls suffered by

many elderly people has been discovered - vitamin D deficiency.

 

Researchers in Australia found that being severely deficient

increased the risk of falls and that supplements reduced their

number. The study of over 1500 women, led by Leon Flicker of the

University of Western Australia in Perth, also found that severe

vitamin D deficiency is surprisingly common in Australia.

 

Vitamin D is produced in the skin when it is exposed to sunlight, so

the assumption had been that deficiency would not be a problem in

sunny countries. But the new fidyl study found that almost half of

elderly women in high-level residential care, though not bedridden,

were severely deficient.

 

Furthermore, a fifth of elderly women who were healthy enough to live

in low-level residential care were also severely deficient. Both

groups of women had an average age of 84 years.

 

The deficient women had blood levels so low that the same levels in a

growing child would cause bone abnormalities such as rickets, says

research team member Caryl Nowson, of Deakin University in Melbourne.

 

Brain and brawn

 

Women in the study who were less severely vitamin D deficient were

less likely to fall, with a doubling of vitamin D levels reducing

their risk by 20 per cent. That association existed even when other

risk factors, such as the use of sedatives, were taken into account.

 

An unpublished study by the same team shows that supplements reduce

the number of falls and the number of breaks caused. The supplements

only need to be given every few months because the body can store

vitamin D.

 

Vitamin D is best known for its role in healthy bones. But there is

growing evidence that it is also essential for muscle and brain

function. A decrease in either of these could cause old people to

fall.

 

Fortified food

 

Falls are a leading cause of death and disability in old people. When

a person in their eighties breaks a hip, there is a 30 percent chance

they will die within a month. In the UK and the US, where people are

exposed to less sun, vitamin D deficiency is recognised as a

potential problem, and food is fortified.

 

However, elderly people, have a greater requirement for vitamin D,

because they do not make it so efficiently. " We're discovering that

Vitamin D deficiency is the deficiency of the elderly, " says Nowson.

 

The cause, believes osteoporosis expert Philip Sambrook, of the

University of Sydney, is " partly because the women were stuck in

nursing homes, and partly because of the strong Australian public

health message about sun and skin cancer risk " .

 

But 20 minutes of sunlight, which can be taken at the beginning and

end of each day when the sun is less strong is still required, he

says.

 

Journal reference: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (vol

51, p 1533)

 

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