Wrist Fracture Risk in Women

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Study identifies wrist fracture risk in women

ORLANDO, Fla.--A new study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), presented here today identifies the major predictors of distal radius (wrist) fractures in older women. Wrist fractures often are indicators of osteoporotic bone, reported study author Molly T. Vogt, PhD, at the 67th annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

A total of 9,704 women, 65 years and older, were enrolled in the 10-year study; the most comprehensive investigation, to date, of risk factors for distal radius fractures. The study is a part of the NIH multi-center Study of Osteoporotic Fractures.

Dr. Vogt and her colleagues found the key indicators for wrist fractures in women include low bone mineral density, recurrent falling, prior fractures and no current use of estrogen.

"We now can identify those individuals at increased risk and be able to instruct them about preventive measures early in life," said Dr. Vogt, associate professor, department of orthopaedic surgery and epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Women enrolled in the study completed questionnaires about their age; weight; height at 25 years old; smoking history; exercise activities; functional impairments; history of selected medical conditions like diabetes, arthritis, fractures; and family history of fractures. A bone mineral density test also was performed on the women.

The researchers found a total of 527 women had sustained a distal radius fracture during the 10 year period. The women's average age at the time of the fracture was 76 years.

Women who had fractured their distal radius had lower bone mineral density in their arms, hip and spine than the women who did not fracture their wrist, reported Dr. Vogt.

The study results indicated women who sustained wrist fractures had never taken oral estrogen and were more likely to have fallen twice or more in the previous year. Among women age 75 or older, use of estrogen did not have a statistically significant protective effect against fracture.

Women who had sustained an osteoporotic fracture since age 50 years were at risk, said Dr. Vogt. She also reported that women whose mother or father had a wrist fracture after age 50 were about twice as likely to fracture their own wrist.

Types of distal radius fractures--intra-articular or extra-articular--were examined by the researchers. Women with intra-articular fractures were more likely to be diabetic; to have stronger triceps; and have a father who had fractured his wrist after age 50, it was reported.

Co-authors of the study are Jane A. Cauley, PhD, department of epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Research Group, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Katie Stone, PhD, department of epidemiology and biostatistics, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.; and James H. Herndon, MD, department of orthopaedic surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.

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