Once Broken – May Break Again

Angie SzumlinskiHealth, Studies

According to a recent study published in the Lancet, there is a crisis in the under-treatment of osteoporosis with a decline in the prescribing of oral and intravenous bisphosphonates in the United States. The rates of initiation of osteoporosis medication within 6 months of hospitalization for hip fracture have declined over the past 15 years from 10 to 3%. In 2017, only 3 in 10 fractures in the U.S. were followed up with bone density testing or treatment.

The objectives of this published study were to determine, among postmenopausal women aged 50 years and older, the incidence of subsequent fracture following an initial fracture during 10-year prospective follow-up, stratified by the anatomical site of the initial fracture, age at initial fracture, and race/ethnicity. The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) enrolled postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years at 40 U.S. clinical centers to conduct this study.

The study concluded that compared with women who did not experience an incident fracture, women with incident fracture were slightly older, were more likely to be white, were less likely to be using hormone therapy at baseline, were slightly more likely to have experienced falls during the 12 months prior to baseline, and were more likely to report a prevalent fracture at study baseline. Bottom line, post-menopausal women who experienced any type of fracture, including non-hip and non-vertebral fractures, are associated with an increased risk of subsequent fracture, including subsequent hip fracture. Keep doing what we are doing, prevent that next fall with injury! Stay well and stay tuned!