Older men have a higher risk than women of sustaining secondary fractures within a few years of their first fracture, but moderate physical activity may improve bone strength, potentially reducing their risk of fractures, according to two studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research in Montreal.
Dr. Suzanne N. Morin
The first study, a matched historical cohort of 57,783 people aged 50 or older (40,062 women and 17,721 men) in Manitoba, Canada, found that men had a threefold higher risk of sustaining a secondary major osteoporotic fracture (MOF) within 1 year of a first fracture, compared with healthy controls. The risk for women, by comparison, was 1.8 times higher than in age-matched controls who did not experience a fracture. These risks declined over time but remained elevated even as much as 15-25 years after the index fracture, according to primary investigator Suzanne N. Morin, MD, of the department of medicine at McGill University in Montreal.
“Often, men and clinicians don’t think men have skeletal fragility – everybody thinks it’s a women’s disease,” Dr. Morin said. “It’s true that it’s more frequent in women, but men do have osteoporosis, and often when they have it, they tend to have more serious complications following the fractures.” This includes higher risk of subsequent fractures and higher mortality, she said. “If you see an older gentleman with a fracture, it really should be some kind of an alarm signal.”
Using administrative health care databases, Dr. Morin and her colleagues reviewed records of patients who had an index MOF between 1989 and 2006. They compared rates of subsequent MOFs until 2016 with those of age- and sex-matched controls (n = 165,965), allowing for between 10 and 25 years of follow-up.
Researchers identified 29,694 index MOF cases (11,028 to the wrist, 9,313 to the hip, 5,799 to the humerus, and 3,554 to the spine). The annual crude rate of subsequent MOFs per 1,000 person-years was 18.5 in men (95% confidence interval, 17.3-19.8) and 29.6 in women (95% CI, 28.8-30.4). The cumulative incidence of subsequent MOFs up to 25 years later was higher in cases versus controls for both sexes and across all ages except those over 80.
Hazard ratios for subsequent MOFs were higher in men than women, particularly in the first year following the index fracture and remained very high for men during the first 3 years of follow-up. Across all follow-up years, men who had fractures were 2.5 times more likely to experience a secondary MOF (95% CI, 2.3-2.7) and women who had fractures were 1.6 times more likely to experience a secondary MOF (95% CI, 1.6-1.7), compared with controls.
To prevent fractures, clinicians should consider gait or balance training for older men and women, especially those who already have experienced a fracture, Dr. Morin said. Physicians also should note any medications such as sedatives that put patients at higher risk for falls and consider medications like bisphosphonates to reduce fracture risk. Additionally, they should ensure there are no underlying causes for skeletal fragility, such as severe vitamin D deficiency or a hormonal imbalance, she said.