05 May After Initial Fracture, Risk of Subsequent Fractures Increased in Post-Menopausal Women

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Crandall

Carolyn Crandall, M.D.
Professor, Medicine
Health Sciences Clinical Professor,
UCLA

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Previously-published studies had not examined in detail the risk of subsequent fractures after initial fractures in a large national sample of women in the us.

Clinical guidelines mostly emphasize initial hip and spine fractures, but they do not emphasize fractures of other types.  We hypothesized that subsequent fracture risk would be higher after initial fracture even at locations other than the hip or the spine.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? 

1. Clinicians should not ignore an initial fracture, regardless of the location of the fracture, because the risk of subsequent fracture is higher regardless of the location of the initial fracture.  We found increased risk of subsequent fracture for all initial fracture types.
2. Clinicians should not ignore an initial fracture in younger postmenopausal women (aged 50-59).  Even younger postmenopausal women aged 50-59 with initial fracture (at any location) were at increased risk of subsequent fracture, and the risk was actually more pronounced among younger than older women. 

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: We need to better understand the reason for the more pronounced risk of future fracture after initial fracture among younger than older postmenopausal women and among the underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. 

No disclosures

Citation:

After the initial fracture in postmenopausal women, where do subsequent fractures occur?

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Last Updated on May 5, 2021 by Marie Benz MD FAAD