Fragility non-spinal fractures in a cohort of 5,201 women aged 65 years and older during a 3-year follow-up

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Low-trauma non-spinal fractures are a growing source of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. We aimed to evaluate the overall incidence of low-trauma non-spinal fractures and of the main skeletal sites in a cohort of women from Spain. PATIENTS AND METHOD: A total of 5,201 women, aged 65 or older, were enrolled in a 3-year cohort study by non-probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases in 58 primary care centers in Spain, with 6-month visits. All radiological or surgically confirmed low trauma non-spinal fractures were collected. RESULTS: 311 women (6.0%) sustained a total of 363 fractures after a 3.01-year median follow-up, and 14,999 women-year. The incidence rate of overall non-spinal fractures was 2,420 cases per 100,000 women-year. The incidence rates of hip forearm and humeral fractures were 887, 369 and 333 cases/100,000 women-year respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Low-trauma non-spinal fractures are highly incident in Spain in women aged 65 years or older, similar to other western countries.