WHO calls for adequate vitamin D supplementation
More aggressive supplementation with vitamin D is needed for post-menopausal women with osteoporosis, according to a review conducted by the World Health Organization and presented at a recent meeting on bone health.
Jean-Yves Reginster, director of the WHO collaborating centre for public
health aspects in rheumatic disease, presented results from the review
at a joint meeting of the European
Calcified Tissue Society and International Bone and Mineral Society in Geneva last month. He reported that 97 per
cent of fracture sufferers admitted to hospital have inadequate levels
of vitamin D and that 52 per cent of women with osteoporosis in Europe
have levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 below 30ng/ml3. Despite these
sub-optimal levels, fewer than one in five (17.6 per cent) women with
osteoporosis currently receive vitamin D supplementation.
Commenting on the data, David Hosking, City Hospital, Nottingham, said: “Most
UK specialists will be unsurprised by these WHO data. We have recognised
for some time that our patients’ vitamin D uptake is inadequate
and, recently, several large, UK-specific trials have reinforced this
view.”
He added that compliance with treatment is also known to be a problem. “In
practice, it is often the patients who need supplementation least who
adhere best to their treatment. The issue of compliance in the highest-risk
individuals may therefore be even more poignant.” |
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