Calcium malabsorption is common in the elderly and may contribute to the development of age-related bone loss. To investigate its cause, we have measured radio-calcium absorption, plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone in forty-eight elderly women with a normal plasma creatinine. Calcium malabsorption was associated with low 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations and was corrected by increasing these into the normal range by treatment with oral 25-hydroxyvitamin D,. Treatment also increased 1 ,X-dihydroxyvitamin D, and decreased parathyroid hormone concentrations.Before treatment, plasma parathyroid hormone was related to plasma creatinine but not to 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and the change in absorption on treatment correlated inversely with plasma creatinine. "Cr EDTA clearance was measured in sixteen elderly women and confirmed that renal impairment was common even with a plasma creatinine in the normal range. Our results suggest that calcium malabsorption in the elderly is predominantly due to vitamin D deficiency; renal impairment is also common and contributes to the malabsorption by increasing the requirements for vitamin D.
Radio-calcium absorption, plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25-(OH)D] and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25-(OH)2D] concentrations were measured in 19 elderly women with, and 21 without, vertebral fractures, before and after treatment with 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25-(OH)D3], to establish whether malabsorption of calcium in elderly women with vertebral fractures has a cause different from that in elderly women without vertebral fractures. Malabsorption of calcium and low plasma 25-(OH)D and 1,25-(OH)2D concentrations were common in both groups of women but there was no significant difference in these variables between the two groups. After treatment with 40 micrograms of 25-(OH)D3 daily for 7 days, there was a significant increase in plasma 25-(OH)D and 1,25-(OH)2D in both groups of women, but radio-calcium absorption increased significantly only in the group without vertebral fractures. Elderly women with vertebral fractures have malabsorption of calcium which is resistant to the action of vitamin D metabolites at concentrations which correct calcium malabsorption in elderly women without vertebral fractures.
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