Vitamin D May Reduce Risk of Falls in the Elderly

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Taking vitamin D supplements may reduce the risk of falls in elderly people in residential care facilities, results of a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggest.

In the study, Australian researchers examined the effect of vitamin D supplementation in 625 residents of 149 residential care facilities. The subjects were not vitamin D deficient.

The participants were randomly assigned to receive vitamin D supplements or inactive "placebo" for 2 years. All of the residents were prescribed 600 mg of calcium daily. Care staff recorded falls and fractures in diaries. At the start of the study, patient characteristics were similar in both groups.

The researchers report that vitamin D use cut the risk of falls by 27 percent to 37 percent compared with placebo.

"This study supports the use of vitamin D supplements in older people in residential care," lead author Dr. Leon Flicker, of the University of Western Australia, and colleagues note. "The demonstrated benefits in this study on the rates of falls for individuals with marginal vitamin D levels, even without...vitamin D deficiency, highlights the potential benefits of vitamin D supplementation in this population."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, November 2005.