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Low plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are not associated with a high risk of recurrent falls in community-dwelling Japanese adults: the Murakami cohort study

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Abstract

Mini-abstract

Reports on the association between vitamin D levels and fall risk have been mixed, and long-term follow-up studies are lacking. This 5-year cohort study of 5,343 community-dwelling Japanese people aged 40–74 years found that low vitamin D levels are not associated with a high risk of recurrent falls.

Purpose

Findings of cohort studies on the association between plasma 25-hydoxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels and fall risk have been mixed, and long-term follow-up studies are lacking. The present study investigated whether low plasma 25(OH)D levels are longitudinally associated with a high risk of recurrent falls in adults.

Methods

This 5-year cohort study included 5,343 community-dwelling Japanese people aged 40–74 years. Baseline blood collection and a questionnaire survey were conducted in 2011–2013. Plasma 25(OH)D levels were determined and divided into quintiles after stratification by season, sex, and age group. Information on recurrent falls occurring in the year before the survey 5 years later was obtained, and participants with two or more falls were considered to have experienced recurrent falls. Covariates were sex, age, marital status, education, occupation, BMI, total physical activity levels, calcium intake, vitamin K intake, smoking, drinking, and disease history.

Results

Mean age and 25(OH)D levels were 60.9 years and 50.9 nmol/L, respectively. In the follow-up survey, 209 recurrent falls were reported. Plasma 25(OH)D levels were not significantly associated with the occurrence of recurrent falls in men, women, or men/women-combined (adjusted P for trend = 0.1198, 0.8383, and 0.2355, respectively). In men and men/women-combined, adjusted ORs for recurrent falls in the lowest quintile were significantly lower (adjusted OR = 0.42 and 0.59, respectively) than the middle quintile (reference).

Conclusion

Low plasma 25(OH)D levels are not associated with a high risk of recurrent falls in middle-aged and older people. Further longitudinal studies will be needed to confirm our findings in other populations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank DiaSorin Inc. for providing the blood 25(OH)D assay. We also thank the following institutions for their help in blood collection: Murakami City Government, Sekikawa Village Government, Awashimaura Village Government, the Medical Association of Murakami City and Iwafune District, Murakami General Hospital, Niigata Prefectural Sakamachi Hospital, Sampoku Tokushukai Hospital, Murakami Memorial Hospital, Senami Hospital, Sakanamachi Hospital, Aoki Clinic, Arakawa Chuo Clinic, Anzai Clinic, Hatori Clinic, Homma Clinic, Iga Clinic, Otabe Clinic, Sakura Clinic of Internal Medicine, Sano Clinic, Sato Clinic, Sato Clinic of Internal Medicine, Sato Clinic of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Sawada Clinic, Sega Clinic, Sekikawa Medical Office, Suzuki Clinic (Murakami City), Suzuki Clinic (Tainai City), Shibata Comprehensive Health Care Service Center, Kenko-Igaku-Yobo-Kyokai, Niigata Association of Occupational Health, Niigata Health Care Association, BML, Inc., and Kotobiken Medical Laboratories, Inc.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Preventive Medicine, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-Dori, Niigata, 951-8510, Japan

    Toshi Nishikura, Kaori Kitamura, Yumi Watanabe, Toshiko Saito & Kazutoshi Nakamura

  2. Department of Rehabilitation, Niigata University of Rehabilitation, 2-16 Kaminoyama, Murakami, Niigata, 958-0053, Japan

    Toshi Nishikura, Akemi Takahashi, Ryosaku Kobayashi & Rieko Oshiki

  3. Department of Health Promotion Medicine, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-Dori, Niigata, 951-8510, Japan

    Keiko Kabasawa

  4. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Nara Women’s University Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Kitauoya-Higashimachi, Nara, 630-8506, Japan

    Ribeka Takachi

  5. International University of Health and Welfare Graduate School of Public Health, 4-1-26 Akasaka, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 107-8402, Japan

    Shoichiro Tsugane

  6. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital, 754 Asahimachi-Dori, Niigata, 951-8520, Japan

    Kei Watanabe

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  1. Toshi Nishikura
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Correspondence to Kazutoshi Nakamura.

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Competing interests

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP23249035, JP15H04782, and JP19H03897, and the National Cancer Center Research and Development Fund [23-A31(toku) (since 2010)]. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

Toshi Nishikura, Kaori Kitamura, Yumi Watanabe, Keiko Kabasawa, Toshiko Saito, Akemi Takahashi, Ribeka Takachi, Ryosaku Kobayashi, Rieko Oshiki, Shoichiro Tsugane, Kei Watanabe, and Kazutoshi Nakamura declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Nishikura, T., Kitamura, K., Watanabe, Y. et al. Low plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are not associated with a high risk of recurrent falls in community-dwelling Japanese adults: the Murakami cohort study. Arch Osteoporos 19, 25 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11657-024-01381-8

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