Vol XXX, Feb 07

This study is somewhat significant for long term care practitioners, considering the costs associated with BMD and relative inaccessibility of the test for long term care facility residents.

The authors measured total hip BMD in 4,124 older women with an average age of 72 years between 1989 and 1990—and again an average of eight years later. They then calculated the rate of change in BMD and followed the women for an average of five years after the second BMD. During the follow-up, they found that 877 women had a non-traumatic non-spine fracture—including 275 hip fractures. On average, the women's initial BMD measurements were low, but not in the osteoporotic range. The group lost an average of 0.59% of bone mass per year between exams.

The researchers concluded that there was no "improvement in the overall predictive value…in a second measure of BMD, obtained a mean of eight years later, in prediction of hip, spine or overall non-spine fracture risk. In other words, the initial BMD was highly and similarly predictive of fracture risk in our population."