Vitamin D, Calcium, Parathyroid Hormone, and Sex Steroids in Bone Health and Effects of Aging.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review detailing biological mechanisms and standard therapies without systematic search methods.
PubMed 32612801 · doi:10.1155/2020/9324505
What was done
This narrative review summarized the metabolism and physiological roles of calcitriol (vitamin D), parathyroid hormone, calcium, and sex steroids in bone modeling and remodeling, as well as the endocrine alterations that occur with aging and the pharmacotherapies used for osteoporosis.
What was found
The abstract reports that approximately 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men suffer from bone loss and fractures in old age. No other quantitative results or effect sizes are provided. Aging is described as causing decreased cutaneous synthesis and dietary intake of vitamin D, lower renal production of active calcitriol, diminished vitamin D receptor levels, and reduced intestinal calcium absorption, which compound with declining estrogen levels to accelerate bone loss.
Why it matters
It provides a consolidated mechanistic overview of the hormone-mineral axes that regulate skeletal integrity and how their age-related decline leads to osteoporosis.
Limits
The paper is a non-systematic narrative review containing no primary empirical data, risk-of-bias assessments, or quantitative pooling of intervention outcomes.
Cited by
- supports Older adults have a higher susceptibility to vitamin D deficiency because aging skin becomes less efficient at producing vitamin D from sunlight.