Risk of hip fracture in women with vertebral fracture

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Abstract
In a population‐based retrospective cohort study, Rochester women aged 35–69 years who were first diagnosed with one or more vertebral fractures in 1950–1979 were followed for the development of a subsequent hip fracture. The 336 women with no history of hip fracture at the time of their vertebral fracture experienced 52 proximal femur fractures in 4788 person‐years of follow‐up. The standardized morbidity ratio (SMR) of observed to expected hip fractures was 1.8 (95% CI, 1.3–2.4) and was higher for intertrochanteric than cervical femoral fractures (SMR, 2.3 versus 1.3; P = 0.07). Hip fracture risk among women with symptomatic vertebral fractures was slightly less than in those with asymptomatic vertebral fractures (SMR, 1.8 versus 2.3; not significant), and younger women had no higher risk of a subsequent hip fracture than women who were ≥60 years of age at the time of their vertebral fracture (SMR, 1.4 versus 1.8; not significant). Alternative explanations are possible, but these data are consistent with heterogeneity in the pathogenesis of different osteoporotic fractures.
Funding Information
  • the National Institutes of Health (AG-04875, AR-30582)
  • U.S. Public Health Service