Men were more likely to have prior falls before experiencing fractures, according to a recent report — a point that doctors should note to accurately estimate a person’s fracture risk.
The meta-analysis appeared earlier this year in Osteoporosis International. The report included data from 46 study groups and more than 900,000 people. Authors said that patients need to include previous falls in their medical history.
Doctors typically use the Fracture Risk Assessment (FRAX) Tool to calculate a person’s likelihood of having a fracture over the next decade. Up until now, though, previous falls haven’t been recognized as being a risk factor for figure fractures. That’s why many aren’t included in the FRAX algorithm.
People with a history of falls within the past year had a higher risk for clinical fracture, osteoporotic fracture, major osteoporotic fracture and hip fracture. One or more previous falls were linked with a higher risk of death in women and men. But men had higher predictive values, the data showed. In fact, the risk for fracture when someone had a fall in the previous year was between 36% and 59%, depending on the type of fracture and a person’s sex.
The increased risk for fracture linked to previous falls was independent of bone mineral density, indicating that falls alone are a risk factor.
“In this newly updated FRAX dataset, previous falls were included as a risk factor and were found to increase the risk for fracture. These findings underscore that falls are an important contributor to fracture in both men and women, but interestingly, slightly more in men,” Douglas P. Kiel, MD, director of the Musculoskeletal Research Center and senior scientist at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife.
“These findings underscore the importance of incorporating previous falls into the FRAX algorithm,” Kiel added, noting that adding previous falls to FRAX also can result in preventive strategies for patients.
