ArticlesThe relationship among history of falls, osteoporosis, and fractures in postmenopausal women☆,☆☆,★,★★,♢,♢♢
Section snippets
Methods
General practitioners of the area around the Limburg University Centre (Diepenbeek, Belgium) were invited to participate. The 74 collaborating general practitioners attended workshops on the aim and methods of the study. They were invited to measure bone density in women who consulted a participating physician when a densitometer was available in their practice (usually 1+wk) and who were able to give a detailed fall history. General practitioners were individually trained to measure bone
Results
The mean age of the 2649 evaluated postmenopausal women was 61 years (range, 45–91y), with a mean weight of 68kg (range, 38–156kg) and mean height of 161cm (range, 115–181cm). In these women, a total of 158 fractures were reported during the previous 2 years and 45 fractures during the previous year (mean age, 64y; range, 45–86y). The numbers and sites of fractures are in table 1.Fracture Type Fractures %
Discussion
The results of the present study indicate that recent falls are a major risk factor for fractures in postmenopausal women, independent of and additive to, age and bone density. Recent prospective studies3, 4 have found falls to be an independent predictor of hip fracture, with a moderately elevated relative risk of 2.0. We found the OR for a recent fracture associated with a history of recent falls to be 6.0. Osteoporosis without falls more than doubled the fracture risk but this was not
Conclusion
Falls are a major contributing factor to the occurrence of symptomatic fractures in postmenopausal women, independent of and additive to the risk attributable to age and osteoporosis.
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2018, CMAJCitation Excerpt :Difficulty with tandem gait, prescribed drug use (i.e., antidepressant, sedative, opioid, didanosine), self-reported exhaustion, diabetes, female sex and weight loss are associated with future fall risk.52 The combination of osteoporosis and falls markedly increases the risk of fragility fractures in the general population.54 Falls may also lead to fear of future falls, resulting in decreased mobility and deconditioning.
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Supported by MSD, Belgium, and Hologic, Belgium.
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No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the author(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.
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Reprint requests to Piet Geusens, Biomedical Research Institute, Limburgs Universitair Centrum, Diepenbeek 3590, Belgium, e-mail: [email protected]
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Suppliers
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a. Hologic Europe NV, Horizon Pk, Leuvensesteenweg, 510, Bus 31, 1930 Zaventem, Belgium.
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b. Egret Software Corp, 909 Northeast 43rd St, Ste 202, Seattle, WA 98105.