Type 2 Diabetes Doubles Short-Term Fracture Risk for Older Women

A study presented at the AACE Annual Scientific and Clinical Congress determined older adults with type 2 diabetes had higher one- and two-year fracture risks than adults without diabetes, although the risks evened out at the 10-year mark, according to Healio . The researchers assessed data from the Framingham Original and Offspring Cohorts for 2,105 women and 1,130 men who underwent a baseline osteoporosis study around 1990. Seven percent of women and 13 percent of men in the group had type 2 diabetes, of whom 63 percent of the women and 51 percent of the men reported taking drugs for the disease. Over a nine-year mean follow-up, 37 percent of women and 11 percent of men with type 2 diabetes suffered a fracture, compared to 30 percent of women and 16 percent of men without diabetes. At one year, the risk for fracture among diabetic women more than doubled compared to non-diabetics. Every five years of diabetes duration boosted the two-year risk for fracture, as did use of diabetes medications. No statistically significant associations between type 2 diabetes and long-term fracture incidence were observed. "Our next steps will be to look at specific medication use, to look at different markers of disease severity, and to look at other risk factors for fracture in diabetics," said Harvard Medical School Professor Elizabeth J. Samelson.