BONE MINERAL DENSITY, FRAGILITY FRACTURES AND CLINICAL RISK FACTORS

Abstract

Osteoporosis affects the skeletal system and is characterized by a reduction in bone strength that predisposes one to an increased risk of fractures. In Italy, about 3.5 million women and 1 million men suffers from osteoporosis. These numbers are set to increase in the coming twenty years because the percentage of the Italian population over 65 will increase by 25%. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the general characteristics of a population of patients suffering from osteoporosis and the relation with comorbidity. A single site, open-label, investigator-initiated, retrospective trial was conducted at the Bone Metabolic Disease Clinic, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University Hospital “P. Giaccone”, Palermo (Italy). 1500 patients of Bone Metabolic Diseases Clinic were enrolled from January 2009 and September 2017. All the patients were evaluated by Hologic Discovery QDR and subjected to a questionnaire that investigated general characteristics, life style, clinical data, osteoporosis pharmacological treatment, completed physical therapy, and Bone Densitometry results. The subjects with increased fracture risk have a high mean age, a lower BMI, report practicing less physical activity and less sun exposure. They also have a higher CIRS-comorbidity index and report previous fragility fractures more often. The study demonstrated a statistically significant association between the risk of fragility fractures, T-Score ≤-1, and comorbidity. This study could contribute to develop a protocol for primary prevention of fragility fractures in the female population affected by osteoporosis demonstrating a correlation between comorbidity and fragility fractures incidences.