Skip to main content
NCBI home page
British Medical Journal logoLink to British Medical Journal
. 1974 Nov 23;4(5942):433–435. doi: 10.1136/bmj.4.5942.433

Vitamin D Deficiency, Spontaneous Fractures, and Osteopenia in Rheumatoid Arthritis

P J Maddison, P A Bacon
PMCID: PMC1612558  PMID: 4425914

Abstract

Spontaneous, undisplaced fractures occurred in the long bones of five patients with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis. The results of biochemical, radiological, and dietary investigations in these patients were compared with those in a larger group of elderly women with rheumatoid arthritis without fractures. A significant association between skeletal rarefaction, calcium × phosphate product, and vitamin-D intake was shown in the whole group. Bone biopsies were performed in three patients with fractures, and histological evidence of osteomalacia was found in two patients. Dietary vitamin-D deficiency seems to play an important role in causing both the fractures and the osteopenia of longstanding rheumatoid arthritis.

Full text

PDF
433

Images in this article

434FIGS. 1-3
on p.434

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BARNETT E., NORDIN B. E. The radiological diagnosis of osteoporosis: a new approach. Clin Radiol. 1960 Jul;11:166–174. doi: 10.1016/s0009-9260(60)80012-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. BOLAND E. W., HEADLEY N. E. Management of rheumatoid arthritis with smaller (maintenance) doses of cortisone acetate. J Am Med Assoc. 1950 Sep 30;144(5):365–372. doi: 10.1001/jama.1950.02920050005002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Baer G. J. Fractures in Chronic Arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 1941 Dec;2(4):269–273. doi: 10.1136/ard.2.4.269. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Duncan H., Frost H. M., Villanueva A. R., Sigler J. W. The osteoporosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1965 Oct;8(5):943–954. doi: 10.1002/art.1780080504. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Exton-Smith A. N., Hodkinson H. M., Stanton B. R. Nutrition and metabolic bone disease in old age. Lancet. 1966 Nov 5;2(7471):999–1001. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(66)92927-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. GOUGH K. R., LLOYD O. C., WILLS M. R. NUTRITIONAL OSTEOMALACIA. Lancet. 1964 Dec 12;2(7372):1261–1264. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(64)92735-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. HAIDER R., STOREY G. Spontaneous fractures in rheumatoid arthritis. Br Med J. 1962 Jun 2;1(5291):1514–1516. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5291.1514. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Horton J. E., Raisz L. G., Simmons H. A., Oppenheim J. J., Mergenhagen S. E. Bone resorbing activity in supernatant fluid from cultured human peripheral blood leukocytes. Science. 1972 Sep 1;177(4051):793–795. doi: 10.1126/science.177.4051.793. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Morgenstern S., Kessler G., Auerbach J., Flor R. V., Klein B. An automated p-nitrophenylphosphate serum alkaline phosphatase procedure for the AutoAnalyzer. Clin Chem. 1965 Sep;11(9):876–888. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Pennock C. A., Moore G. R., Hoyle M. D. Estimation of hydroxyproline in urine. J Med Lab Technol. 1970 Jul;27(3):302–307. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Saville P. D., Kharmosh O. Osteoporosis of rheumatoid arthritis: influence of age, sex and corticosteroids. Arthritis Rheum. 1967 Oct;10(5):423–430. doi: 10.1002/art.1780100504. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES