Indian study reveals that three-quarters of hip fracture patients are vitamin D deficient
New Delhi researchers show that vitamin D levels may be a useful index for the assessment of hip fracture risk in elderly people
2010-12-14
(Press-News.org) A study from New Delhi India has revealed high rates of vitamin D deficiency among hip fracture patients, confirming the conclusions of similar international studies which point to vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for hip fracture.
A group of 90 hip fracture patients was compared to a matched control group of similar age, sex and co-morbidity. Of the patients who had suffered hip fractures, 76.7% were shown to be vitamin D deficient as measured by serum 25(OH)D levels of less than 20 ng/ml. In addition, 68.9% had elevated PTH levels. In comparison, only 32.3% of the controls had vitamin D deficiency and 42.2% had elevated PTH levels (secondary hyperparathyroidism).
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to the pathogenesis of osteoporosis and is increasingly thought to play a role in muscle strength, certain cancers, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Vitamin D levels are very low in the Indian population in all age groups, and could be explained by skin pigmentation, traditional clothing and the avoidance of sunlight.
The results of the New Delhi study confirm that serum 25 (OH)D levels may be a useful index for the assessment of risk of hip fracture in elderly people.
The study (OC13) was presented at the IOF Regionals – 1st Asia-Pacific Regional Osteoporosis Meeting being held in Singapore from December 10-13, 2010. Abstracts from the meeting have been published in Osteoporosis International, Vol. 21, Suppl. 5, 2010.
###
About IOF
The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is a non-profit, nongovernmental organization dedicated to the worldwide fight against osteoporosis, the disease known as "the silent epidemic". IOF's members – committees of scientific researchers, patient, medical and research societies and industry representatives from around the world – share a common vision of a world without osteoporotic fractures. IOF now represents 195 societies around the world, including 28 societies in Asia. IOF's Asian-Pacific regional office is located in Singapore.
The 2nd IOF Asia-Pacific Osteoporosis & Bone Meeting, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the ANZBMS, will be held in Gold Coast, Australia from September 4 - 8, 2011
http://www.iofbonehealth.org
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2010-12-14
A new study presented today at the 1st Asia-Pacific Osteoporosis Meeting in Singapore confirms rising rates of hip fractures in Beijing, China.
The research was based on hospital discharge data from all Beijing hospitals that treat hip fracture patients, collected from 1990-1992 and 2002-2006 and using official population census figures for 1990 and 2004. The researchers identified over- and under-reporting caused by changes in methods of reporting and in patterns of referral over these two time periods.
After adjustments were made, it was found that the rate of hip ...
2010-12-14
Bone health experts attending the 1st Asia-Pacific Osteoporosis Meeting in Singapore this week have flagged vitamin D deficiency as a major concern in the region, particularly in South Asia where the problem is especially severe and widespread across the entire population.
Dr. Nikhil Tandon, Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences of New Delhi, India highlighted the results of various studies which show severe deficiency across India and Pakistan in all age groups, as well as insufficiency in populations of South-East and ...
2010-12-14
Spanish researchers have found fossils of Ordovician conodonts dating to between 446 and 444 million years ago for the first time in the western Mediterranean. The discovery of these very primitive marine vertebrates has helped scientists to reconstruct the palaeogeography of the Cordillera Bética mountain range. Their study shows that the mountain system in the south of the Iberian Peninsula was located alongside the Alps at that time.
In 2006, a group of Andalusian geologists found the oldest fossils in the Cordillera Bética, dating from the late Ordovician period between ...
2010-12-14
Primary school children who don't like eating fruit and vegetables are 13 times more likely to develop functional constipation than children who do, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing. Drinking less than 400ml of fluid a day also significantly increases the risk.
Dr Moon Fai Chan, assistant professor at the National University of Singapore, teamed up with Yuk Ling Chan, from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to study the diet and toileting habits of 383 children aged from eight to ten from a school in Hong Kong.
Fifty-one ...
2010-12-14
A study carried out over 50 years by an international team, with the participation of the Balearic Oceanography Centre of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) has confirmed an increase in the size and intensity of proliferations of the jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca. There are several complex reasons for this - over-fishing and the current increase in sea water temperatures.
"Since 2002, these organisms have become increasingly frequently found in the north east Atlantic in winter, since winters have been warmer, and they have tended to appear earlier and spend more ...
2010-12-14
Like an overprotective parent on the first day of school, a targeting factor sometimes needs a little push to let go of its cargo. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, have visualised one such hand-over. They were the first to determine the structure of a ribosome-protein complex involved in carrying nascent proteins out of the cell. Their work, published today in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, could increase understanding of illnesses such as cystic fibrosis and some forms of Parkinson's disease, in which improper ...
2010-12-14
Smoking accounts for more than a third of cases of the most severe and common form of rheumatoid arthritis, indicates research published online in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
And it accounts for more than half of cases in people who are genetically susceptible to development of the disease, finds the study.
The researchers base their findings on more than 1,200 people with rheumatoid arthritis and 871 people matched for age and sex, but free of the disease. The patients came from 19 health clinics in south and central Sweden, while their healthy peers were ...
2010-12-14
The UK is poorly prepared for the forthcoming epidemic of degenerative valvular heart disease, prompted by a rapidly ageing population, say leading experts in the journal Heart.
The prevalence of valvular heart disease, or VHD for short, rises with age. European and US data indicate that more than 13% of those aged 75 and above have the progressive condition. And by 2018, there will be an estimated 4 million people in the UK aged between 75 and 84.
The exact causes of VHD have been poorly researched, but the condition is associated with a great deal of ill health, poor ...
2010-12-14
UK medical schools are failing to comply with the recommended curriculum for ophthalmology, set out by the International Council of Ophthalmologists (ICO), suggests a survey published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
Amid concerns that the specialty was being squeezed out of undergraduate education, the council urged medical schools to make it a core subject and produced guidance to help them do this.
But a questionnaire sent to 32 UK medical schools, which prompted 18 to complete returns, shows that while all include ophthalmology in the curriculum, ...
2010-12-14
Although rare, the true incidence of neonaticides - the unlawful killing of a baby within the first 24 hours of its life - is more than five times as common as official estimates suggest, suggests research published online in the Fetal and Neonatal edition of the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Low maternal self esteem and emotional immaturity, rather than obvious mental illness or social disadvantage, are key drivers, the research indicates.
The researchers reviewed the case records of 26 courts in three regions of France, involving the death of a child within the ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Indian study reveals that three-quarters of hip fracture patients are vitamin D deficient
New Delhi researchers show that vitamin D levels may be a useful index for the assessment of hip fracture risk in elderly people