Calcium Plus D Cuts Fracture Rate

Women who took calcium and vitamin D cut their risk of vertebral fractures by 13%, according to results from the Women’s Health Initiative Calcium plus Vitamin D Supplementation Trial. Nancy Walsh reported the results in MedPage Today.

During 12 years of follow-up of almost 30, 000 women, there was a significant 13% decrease in risk for clinical vertebral fractures with calcium and vitamin D use, Jane Cauley, DrPH, of the University of Pittsburgh, reported at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. There was no benefit for supplementation for hip fractures, she said.

The original supplement trial assessed whether 1, 000 mg per day of calcium plus 400 IU of vitamin D daily reduced the risk of hip fracture and colorectal cancer in more than 36, 000 women. The participants were ages 50 to 79 at the time of enrollment at 40 U.S. sites. In the intervention phase of the study they were followed for seven years. When that phase of the study ended, participants were invited to continue in an extension phase, and 29, 862 agree to do so.

Those who chose to continue in the trial were healthier and more often white, and 40% were taking more than 1, 200 mg of calcium per day, reflecting the fact that they were allowed to use whatever additional dietary supplements they wished. During an additional five years of follow-up, the annualized rate of clinical vertebral fractures was 0.36% for supplement users versus 0.43% for the placebo group.

Cauley noted that, among women who reported taking at least 80% of the study drug, there was a significant 23% decrease for hip fracture, suggesting that the overall benefits outweighed risks among adherent women.