Vitamin D levels and fracture risk among Hispanic children

PurposeThere is a lack of knowledge about whether low vitamin D levels increase the risk of pediatric low-energy fractures among Hispanic population. The objective of this study is to determine whether there is a direct relationship between low vitamin D levels and the incidence of low-energy fractures in Hispanic children.MethodCases included all consecutive patients evaluated with low-energy fractures in the pediatric orthopedic clinic. The control group consisted of all pediatric patients evaluated, without fractures, who had bone and joint pain complaints in the general pediatric clinic. The main focus was to compare cases and controls in relation to their vitamin D levels. Cases and controls were compared using t tests for means of quantitative variables and Chi-square tests.ResultsA total of 201 subjects, distributed as cases (n=107) and controls (n=94), were included in this study. One hundred twelve (55.7%) of the total study population were males. The mean age for the study population was 8.6 years old ranging from 1 year to 18 years, and standard deviation=4.0 years. The median age for the study population was 9 years. The mean vitamin D level for the cases was 32.6 ng/dl (SD=10.9); the mean vitamin D level for controls was 32.3 ng/dl (SD=13.4). This difference was not statistically significant (t=0.18, 95% CI -3.2 to 3.9; p=0.854).ConclusionA direct relationship between low vitamin D levels and fracture risk in a Hispanic pediatric population was not established.Levels of EvidenceIII.