Risk factors identified for young women with osteoporosis

Results of a study by researchers from Ireland have revealed risk factors for premenopausal women at risk for osteoporosis.

“We all know that in sports medicine and orthopedics the risk for osteoporosis in the female athletic and the athletic triad in those who are elite athletes and those involved in athletic training in a younger aged female population,” Alan Molloy, MD, of St. James Hospital in Dublin said. “However there are more risk factors to look for than just the female triad.”

The female triad includes low bone mineral density, and menstrual and eating disorders. Molloy presented his data at the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology Congress 201 in Madrid.

Retrospective review

Molloy and colleagues performed an epidemiological analysis of all patients aged 30 years or younger referred for DXA scanning in a university teaching hospital during a three-year period. They analyzed mode of referral, risk factors, T-score and subsequent fractures with an aim to highlight an underestimated level of osteopenia/osteoporosis in this younger patient population.

They assessed 102 women with a mean age of 25 years and a mean T-score of 1.037.

Overall, they found that medical teams initiated the majority of referrals (77%), followed by general practitioners (17%), gynecologists (4%), pediatricians (1%) and surgeons (1%), according to the study abstract. Risk factors noted included excess steroid use for medical conditions (41%), decreased BMI (27%), celiac disease (12%) and radiological evidence of osteopenia (7%).

Molloy reported that 34% of these patients had suffered a fall, with 12% of patients suffering from a fragility fracture.

He said that it was interesting that the lowest referrers of these patients for treatment were surgeons, including orthopaedists.

“So orthopaedists, despite having an important role in osteoporosis are not referring younger women patients for DXA scanning,” he said. “That may be because there is no increased awareness of the risks in this patient setting, and so we should be aware of the risk factors.”

Molloy A. Paper #F58. Presented at: EFORT Congress 2010; June 2-5, 2010; Madrid.

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