Endocrine Abstracts

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterised by low bone mass and susceptibility to fracture. Preventive strategies against osteoporotic fracture can be targeted throughout the life course. Although there is evidence to suggest that peak bone mass is inherited, current genetic markers are able to explain only a small proportion of the variation in individual bone mass or fracture risk. Evidence has begun to accrue that fracture risk might be modified by environmental influ...

Multiple fractures, for which there is no clear explanation, raise the possibility of non-accidental injury (NAI). Vitamin D deficiency, defined as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) concentrations of <50 nmol/l, is common during pregnancy and infancy.It had been suggested by Keller & Barnes (Pediatr Radiol 2008 38 1210–1216) that subclinical vitamin D deficiency could explain some fractures that have been ascribed t...

Current strategies for prevention of vitamin D deficiency are primarily aimed at infants and young children to prevent rickets. In most countries this is based on recommendations to take a daily multivitamin supplement containing vitamin D often in a dose of 350–400 IU. There is variation in recommendations as to at risk groups who should receive supplementation and at what age these commence. In the UK this is currently delivered through the Healthy Start scheme with a r...