In Other Journals

Both men and women who have experienced a low-trauma (osteoporotic) fracture are at increased risk of suffering a subsequent fracture, Australian researchers have shown. The study, carried out as part of the Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study, assessed all fractures occurring in people aged 60 years or older living in Dubbo, New South Wales. The 16-year study followed 905 women and 337 men with an initial osteoporotic fracture and found the relative risk of refracture to be 1.95 for women and 3.47 for men. The increase in fracture risk continued for up to 10 years, with about half of the surviving men and women having another fracture in this period. The authors conclude that almost all low-trauma fractures in both sexes indicate a need for preventive therapy — a point that has been under-recognised in the past, particularly in men.