Vitamin D in people with learning disabilities
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Vitamin D, bone mineral density and risk of fractures in patients with learning disabilities: a follow-up study
IRAS ID
190355
Contact name
Valeria Frighi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
We aim to investigate the overall effects of a good clinical practice initiative carried out in the Oxfordshire Learning Disability NHS Trust in the years 2009-2011, by which patients with vitamin D deficiency were referred on clinical grounds to the local orthopaedic centre and/or their GPs as required for supplementation with vitamin D.
We plan to assess whether patients are still taking the supplements, and, if not, the reasons for not taking them. We also plan to measure blood vitamin D levels to check whether they are normal. Additionally, we aim to assess bone mineral density to study its relationship with blood vitamin D levels and check whether there has been an improvement in patients who had a low bone density before starting vitamin D supplements. The rationale for this study is that patients with learning disabilities (LD) are at very high risk of fractures compared to the general population. Most patients also have low or very low vitamin D levels, and this deficiency can lead to fractures. Nevertheless, people with LD may also have other risk factors for weak bones and fractures (e.g. limited mobility with little weight bearing exercise, hormone problems), which are not as easily corrected as vitamin D deficiency. Therefore, we need to understand the effects of vitamin D supplementation so that if this is insufficient to maintain bone mass, other measures to improve bone health and reduce the occurrence of fractures can be investigated in other studies or adopted in clinical practice (for instance increased physical exercise whenever possible, fall prevention strategies, bisphosphonate treatment, treatment of hormonal abnormalities).
This study stems from our group’s commitment to improve the health of patients with learning disabilities, in this case by finding ways to reduce their risk of fractures.REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SC/0223
Date of REC Opinion
13 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion