Med Headlines - University of California researchers, led by Dr. John Robbins, have developed a novel way of predicting the 5-year risk of hip fractures in postmenopausal women.

The team analyzed data of 93,676 women, collected during the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). Variety of findings, led the researchers to identify a list of eleven factors, which were associated with an increased risk of hip fracture. Once identified, these predictive factors were then tested using patient data collected from over 68,000 women who participated in the study.

The eleven factors mentioned are: age, self-reported health, weight, height, race/ethnicity, self-reported physical activity, history of fracture after age 54 years, parental hip fracture, current smoking, current corticosteroid use and treated diabetes

Researchers point out that, although recent analysis has shown value of the eleven factors in predicting hip fracture, more studies need to be done.

“Knowing the 5-year risk of fracture will permit patients and physicians to make informed choices when balancing making lifestyle changes against undergoing medical interventions. Publication of these results, along with the user-friendly tool for their application, will permit others to rapidly test their utility. However, we believe 11 readily available clinical variables offer a simple means of stratifying the 5-year risk of hip fracture in postmenopausal women.”