EARLIER FALLS PREDICT SUBSEQUENT FRACTURES IN POST MENOPAUSAL WOMEN

The risk of fracture in postmenopausal women can be predicted by history of falls, according to new findings from the Kuopio Osteoporosis Risk Factor and Prevention Study (OSTPRE) at the University of Eastern Finland. Published in Osteoporosis International, the study is the first to follow up on the association between history of falls and subsequent fractures.

 

Conducted at the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital, the study comprised 8,744 women whose mean age at the beginning of the study was approximately 62 years. The study started in 1999 with an enquiry asking the study participants about their history of falls in the preceding 12 months. Nearly one in five women reported a fall during the preceding 12 months. The risk of fracture was 41% greater in women who had reported a fall in comparison to those who hadn’t. Slip falls were associated with a greater risk of subsequent fracture than falls caused by other reasons. Furthermore, injurious falls predicted future fractures: the risk of fracture was 64% higher in women who had experienced an injurious fall. In particular, earlier injurious falls predicted other fractures than those typically associated with osteoporosis.

Courtesy of Barry Block, editor of PM News