Risk factors for osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures in a series of 5,195 women older than 65 years

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Although the risk factors of osteoporosis are well known, their prevalence in the general population has not been clearly analyzed. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of several risk factors for osteoporosis and fragility fractures in a population of women from Spain. PATIENTS AND METHOD: We recruited 5,195 women aged 65 year or older, attended in 58 primary care centers. Recruitment was done through a non-probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases. Demographic, anthropometric, and clinical variables were collected, and subjects were administered a questionnaire of risk factors for osteoporosis and fragility fractures. RESULTS: The prevalence of main osteoporosis risk factors was: early menopause (< 45 years): 25.4%; history of fragility fractures: 20.1%; familial history of fragility fractures: 16.7%; low weight (< 57 kg): 14.6%. Any of these four factors was present in 56.3% of women. 26.2% of women were treated with benzodiazepines, and 26.7% reported at least one fall during the previous year. We noticed a low prevalence of several risk factors that are commonly reported in Anglo-Saxon series including tobacco and alcohol consumption, low calcium intake and thyroid hormone treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Besides age, the main risk factors of osteoporosis and fragility fractures in our series were a history of fragility fractures, early menopause, benzodiazepine use and previous falls. The evaluation of these risk factors may be an useful tool to identify women at high risk for osteoporosis and to implement appropriate clinical strategies.