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. 2008 Dec 3;89(1):323–330. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2008.26451

TABLE 3.

Hazard ratios of total fracture by vitamin D and calcium intakes among postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study1

Vitamin A
Retinol
Strata n Mean vitamin A2 Multivariate HR (95% CI)3 n Mean retinol2 Multivariate HR (95% CI)3
μg RE/d μg/d
Lower vitamin D intake (≤11 μg/d) P for trend: 0.022 P for trend: 0.056
 Quintile 1 14,199 4445 1.00 14,770 348 1.00
 Quintile 2 10,906 5430 1.02 (0.94, 1.10) 13,424 609 1.02 (0.95, 1.10)
 Quintile 3 7575 6162 1.10 (1.00, 1.20) 7484 894 1.05 (0.97, 1.15)
 Quintile 4 4773 6944 1.11 (0.99, 1.24) 2321 1219 1.09 (0.96, 1.23)
 Quintile 5 2966 8902 1.19 (1.04, 1.37) 2420 2488 1.15 (1.03, 1.29)
Higher vitamin D intake (>11 μg/d) P for trend: 0.678 P for trend: 0.521
 Quintile 1 950 4710 1.00 379 370 1.00
 Quintile 2 4243 5507 0.99 (0.81, 1.19) 1725 664 1.07 (0.79, 1.44)
 Quintile 3 7575 6205 0.93 (0.78, 1.12) 7666 967 1.00 (0.75, 1.32)
 Quintile 4 10,376 7007 0.93 (0.77, 1.12) 12,828 1246 1.00 (0.75, 1.31)
 Quintile 5 12,184 8957 0.87 (0.72, 1.06) 12,730 2123 0.95 (0.72, 1.25)
Lower calcium intake (≤1236 mg/d) P for trend: 0.446 P for trend: 0.490
 Quintile 1 12,954 4442 1.00 12,796 343 1.00
 Quintile 2 10,959 5441 1.01 (0.94, 1.09) 10,820 612 0.99 (0.92, 1.08)
 Quintile 3 8708 6170 1.03 (0.94, 1.12) 7923 930 1.05 (0.97, 1.14)
 Quintile 4 6389 6951 1.06 (0.96, 1.18) 5975 1231 1.06 (0.97, 1.16)
 Quintile 5 3270 8727 1.02 (0.90, 1.16) 4766 2196 1.00 (0.91, 1.10)
Higher calcium intake (>1236 mg/d) P for trend: 0.080 P for trend: 0.207
 Quintile 1 2195 4577 1.00 2353 374 1.00
 Quintile 2 4190 5481 1.04 (0.91, 1.20) 4329 622 1.15 (1.01, 1.32)
 Quintile 3 6442 6201 1.07 (0.94, 1.22) 7227 932 1.10 (0.96, 1.25)
 Quintile 4 8760 7014 1.04 (0.91, 1.19) 9174 1248 1.13 (0.99, 1.29)
 Quintile 5 11,880 8982 1.03 (0.89, 1.18) 10,384 2175 1.11 (0.96, 1.25)
Lower vitamin D and calcium intakes P for trend: 0.313 P for trend: 0.258
 Quintile 1 12,393 4430 1.00 12,659 343 1.00
 Quintile 2 8532 5425 1.00 (0.92, 1.10) 10,044 607 0.98 (0.90, 1.07)
 Quintile 3 5253 6153 1.02 (0.91, 1.14) 4515 896 1.01 (0.91, 1.12)
 Quintile 4 2803 6918 1.06 (0.91, 1.23) 1474 1216 1.06 (0.91, 1.23)
 Quintile 5 1095 8886 1.18 (0.98, 1.41) 1384 2498 1.17 (1.01, 1.36)
Higher vitamin D and calcium intakes P for trend: 0.393 P for trend: 0.671
 Quintile 1 389 4707 1.00 242 380 1.00
 Quintile 2 1816 5521 1.20 (0.82, 1.48) 949 654 1.16 (0.80, 1.69)
 Quintile 3 4120 6212 1.01 (0.76, 1.34) 4258 961 1.02 (0.72, 1.44)
 Quintile 4 6790 7024 1.00 (0.76, 1.33) 8327 1251 1.05 (0.74, 1.48)
 Quintile 5 10,009 9025 0.95 (0.71, 1.27) 9348 2141 1.02 (0.72, 1.43)
1

The cutoffs for the vitamin D and calcium stratification were selected based on the mean of each nutrient in the study population. HR, hazard ratio; RE, retinol equivalent.

2

The interactions of vitamin A and retinol with calcium were significant (P = 0.001 in both analyses); however, the interactions were not significant with vitamin D. Only when the interaction term was analyzed as categorical was the highest intake of retinol with vitamin D significant (P = 0.033 for the subgroup analysis).

3

Risk estimates were adjusted for age; energy, vitamin K, protein, alcohol, and caffeine intakes; smoking; BMI; HR therapy use; total METs per week; ethnic group; and region.