Higher fracture Risk for Diabetes Patients

It’s a known fact that there are certain risks associated with diabetes. But now a study from the University of California has found that people with type 2 diabetes may be at a greater risk of fractures.

A new study found in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reveals that diabetes patients who are receiving bone mineral density testing should or should not keep getting the testing after all.

Researchers found that femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) T scores and World Health Organization Fracture Risk Algorithm (FRAX) scores do predict fracture risk in older patients with diabetes. But doctors must also consider a possible further increase in risk due to diabetes when interpreting these scores.

Bone mineral density is most often determined using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, or DEXA, scanning, which measures the amount of low-energy and high-energy beams that pass through the bone during the X-ray.

A BMD T score measures the density of a patient's bone compared to a normal, healthy 30-year-old. A T score that is within 1 standard deviation of a healthy young adult is considered normal, while a BMD greater than 2.5 standard deviations from normal (-2.5) is the threshold for osteoporosis.

The University analyzed data from three prospective observational studies which followed 18,000 older people for an average of around 12 years, including 770 women and close to 1,200 men with type 2 diabetes.

During the follow-up, 84 women with diabetes and 32 men with diabetes experienced hip fractures; 262 women with diabetes and 133 men with diabetes experienced other non-spinal fractures.

Bone mineral density T scores and FRAX scores were both associated with hip and non-spine fracture risk in the diabetes patients.

The new findings confirm that a diabetes patient with a FRAX score of 3% has a higher fracture risk than a non-diabetes patient with the same score. If you have questions and would like more information please call our office to setup an appointment to talk to Anthony Cannon, MD at (609) 587-9944.