Risk of hip fracture in women with vertebral fracture.
In a population-based retrospective cohort study, Rochester women aged 35-69 years who were first diagnosed with one or more vertebral fractures in 1950-1979 were followed for the development of a subsequent hip fracture. The 336 women with no history of hip fracture at the time of their vertebral fracture experienced 52 proximal femur fractures in 4788 person-years of follow-up. The standardized morbidity ratio (SMR) of observed to expected hip fractures was 1.8 (95% CI, 1.3-2.4) and was higher for intertrochanteric than cervical femoral fractures (SMR, 2.3 versus 1.3; P = 0.07). Hip fracture risk among women with symptomatic vertebral fractures was slightly less than in those with asymptomatic vertebral fractures (SMR, 1.8 versus 2.3; not significant), and younger women had no higher risk of a subsequent hip fracture than women who were > or = 60 years of age at the time of their vertebral fracture (SMR, 1.4 versus 1.8; not significant). Alternative explanations are possible, but these data are consistent with heterogeneity in the pathogenesis of different osteoporotic fractures.
Kotowicz
M A
MA
Division of Endocrinology/Metabolism and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.
Melton
L J
LJ
Cooper
C
C
Atkinson
E J
EJ
O'Fallon
W M
WM
Riggs
B L
BL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D005265:Femoral Neck Fractures / Q000209:etiology; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014768:Virginia