Age-dependent vitamin D status and vertebral condition of white women living in Curaçao (The Netherlands Antilles) as compared with their counterparts in The Netherlands

Plasma vitamin D metabolites and parathyroid hormone concentrations of two groups of white women, aged 26–46 and 63–83 y, in Curaçao were studied to evaluate the effect of yearlong abundant sunlight on frequency of vertebral compression fractures in elderly women. 25-Hydroxyvitamin D of the younger group (median. 116 nmol/L) was higher than that of the older group (75 nmol/L). Both groups had higher 25-hydroxyvitamin D compared with approximately age-matched counterparts in The Netherlands during autumn and winter (50 and 25 nmol/L, respectively). Similar differences were found for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. although to a lesser extent. Parathyroid hormone concentrations of older women in Curaçao (4.3 pmol/L) were higher than those of the younger women (2.3 pmol/L). Roentgenographic analyses of the spines of the older women did not show vertebral compression fractures commonly encountered in women living at higher latitudes. Uninterrupted high plasma concentrations of vitamin D metabolites may reduce vertebral compression fractures in postmenopausal white women.