Risk Factors for Incident Fracture in Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: The Framingham Heart Study

OBJECTIVE To identify risk factors for fracture in type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This prospective study included members of the Framingham Original and Offspring Cohorts. Type 2 diabetes was defined as fasting plasma glucose >125 mg/dL or use of type 2 diabetes therapy. We used repeated-measures Cox proportional hazards regression to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for associations between potential predictors and incidence of fragility fracture. RESULTS Participants included 793 individuals with type 2 diabetes. Mean +/- SD age was 70 +/- 10 years; 45% were women. A total of 106 incident fractures occurred over 1,437 observation follow-up intervals. Fracture incidence increased with age (adjusted HRs 1.00, 1.44 [95% CI 0.65, 3.16], and 2.40 [1.14, 5.04] for <60, 60-70, and >70 years, respectively; P-trend = 0.02), female sex (2.23 [1.26, 3.95]), HbA(1c) (1.00, 2.10 [1.17, 3.75], and 1.29 [0.69, 2.41] for 4.45-6.46% [25-47 mmol/mol], 6.50-7.49% [48-58 mmol/mol], and 7.50-13.86% [58-128 mmol/mol]; P-trend =0.03), falls in past year (1.00, 1.87 [0.82, 4.28], and 3.29 [1.34, 8.09] for no falls, one fall, and two or more falls; P-trend =0.03), fracture history (2.05 [1.34, 3.12]), and lower grip strength (0.82 [0.69, 0.99] per 5-kg increase). Femoral neck bone mineral density, BMI, smoking, physical function, chronic diseases, medications, and physical function were not associated with fracture incidence. CONCLUSIONS Prior falls, fractures, low grip strength, and elevated HbA(1c) are risk factors for fractures in older adults with type 2 diabetes. Evaluation of these factors may improve opportunities for early intervention and reduce fractures in this high-risk group.

Automated summary

Age, sex, HbA1c, history of falls, history of fractures, and weak grip strength are associated with fractures in older adults with type 2 diabetes. Other factors like bone mineral density, BMI, smoking, physical function, chronic diseases, medications were not found to be associated with fracture incidence in this study.