Bone and Fall-Related Fracture Risks in Women and Men with a Recent Clinical Fracture

Abstract

Men and women over fifty years of age who had recently sustained a clinical fracture had, at the time of that fracture, bone and fall-related risk factors that were greater than the risk predicted by the presence of osteoporosis. Risk factors were overlapping, heterogeneous, and found in multiple combinations. This was the case regardless of the patient's age, fracture location, or gender. These findings suggest that an integrated bone and fall-related risk-factor assessment is a preferable means for identifying elderly subjects at risk for fracture. Integrated bone and fall-related risk assessment and treatment studies are needed to document this proposal.