Vitamin D supplementation for fall prevention in nursing homes: Fall study in elderly people in Andalucía, Spain

Abstract

Introduction: Falls in nursing home are a major problem, since risk factors for falls (such as muscular weakness, cognitive impairment, osteoporosis, balance and gait problems etc.) are more prevalent in this population than in community-dwelling individuals. Guidelines suggest that elderly people should be treated with vitamin D the whole year. In Nursing Homes vitamin D supplementation reduces falls, osteoporosis and respiratory infections, but it is undertreated in this environment. The main objective of this study was to see if there was any association between vitamin D supplementation and the frequency of falls in elderly people living in nursing homes in Andalucía, Spain. And, as a secondary objective, we wanted to see if there was association between the dosage of vitamin D and falls.

Methodology: This is a multicenter, observational, retrospective, cross-sectional, and analytic study with elderly individuals residing in nursing homes in 2023.

Results: 961 participants were included. Only 38.4% of the residents where receiving vitamin D supplementation. Most of them (60%) where taking cholecalciferol, 35% calcifediol, and only 5% where on combination of vitamin D with calcium. The supplement with the lowest association to falls was cholecalciferol (34.7%) (p value 0.05), and those residents taking cholecalciferol weekly where the ones with less falls (28.67%) (p value 0.02).

Conclusion: Nursing home residents were undertreated with vitamin D, the dosage with the lowest association with falls was cholecalciferol weekly.

Keywords: Caídas; Falls; Fragilidad; Frailty; Nursing home; Residencia de ancianos/mayores; Vitamin D; Vitamina D.