A Broken Wrist Might Not Mean Fragile Bones

Women who sustained wrist fractures had elevated risk for recurrent fractures, but the risk was less than that associated with other fragility fractures.

Wrist fragility fractures (sustained after a fall from standing height or lower) account for 26% to 46% of all skeletal fractures. In a retrospective cohort study involving information from 21,000 middle-aged or older women (age, ≥45) in the Manitoba Health database, investigators correlated baseline BMD measurements with incidence of previous or subsequent wrist, hip, spine, or humerus fractures.

Wrist fractures accounted for more than 90% of first fractures; women with primary wrist fractures were significantly younger than were those with other primary fractures. Only 25% of the women with prior wrist fractures had evidence of osteoporosis at baseline (BMD T-score ≤–2.5), whereas 34% of those with histories of vertebral fractures and 51% …

Reviewing Author

Wendy S. Biggs, MD

A Broken Wrist Might Not Mean Fragile Bones

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Reviewing Author