AGE-DEPENDENT VITAMIN-D STATUS AND VERTEBRAL CONDITION OF WHITE WOMEN LIVING IN CURACAO (THE NETHERLANDS-ANTILLES) AS COMPARED WITH THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN THE NETHERLANDS

Plasma vitamin D metabolites and parathyroid hormone concentrations of two groups of white women, aged 26-46 and 63-83 y, in Curacao were studied to evaluate the effect of yearlong abundant sunlight on frequency of vertebral compression fractures in elderly women. 25-Hydroxyvitamin D of the younger group (median, 116 nmol/L) was higher than that of the older group (75 nmol/L). Both groups had higher 25-hydroxyvitamin D compared with approximately age-matched counterparts in The Netherlands during autumn and winter (50 and 25 nmol/L. respectively). Similar differences were found for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, although to a lesser extent. Parathyroid hormone concentrations of older women in Curacao (4.3 pmol/L) were higher than those of the younger women (2.3 pmol/L). Roentgenographic analyses of the spines of the older women did not show vertebral compression fractures commonly encountered in women living at higher latitudes. Uninterrupted high plasma concentrations of vitamin D metabolites may reduce vertebral compression fractures in postmenopausal white women