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Wrist and Spine Fractures May Mean Future Hip Fractures for Women AND Men

Women who break a bone--any bone--are more likely to break a hip when they are older. In fact, certain types of fractures in the wrist or spine mean a woman could be twice as likely to have a hip fracture. The fractures are related to osteoporosis.

Is the same true for men? These authors went through 20 years of research to find some answers. They looked for research on people who had specific types of wrist and spine fractures. The authors ended up looking at data from nine different studies. Taken together, the studies included about 1,400 men and 7,000 women over 50 years of age.

Results showed that a spine fracture made women and men about equally likely to have a hip fracture. However, men who had a wrist fracture were much more likely than women to break their hip later in life. Overall, men suffer far fewer wrist fractures than women. But men who do have wrist fractures probably have especially low bone density or other problems with bone weakness.

This issue is important because men who break a hip tend to have more problems than women do. Men are much more likely to die after a hip fracture. They are also much more likely to become disabled and need long-term medical care. The authors recommend that doctors pay special attention to older men who have wrist fractures. These men could probably use a program to help them avoid breaking a hip in the future.

References: Patrick Haentiens, MD, PhD, et al. Colles Fracture, Spine Fracture, and Subsequent Risk of Hip Fracture in Men and Women: A Meta-Analysis. In The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. October 2003. Vol. 85-A. No. 10. pp. 1936-1943.

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