Are distal radius fractures due to fragility or to falls?: A consecutive case-control study of bone mineral density, tendency to fall, risk factors for osteoporosis, and health-related quality of life

Figures & data

Table 1.  Baseline data for patients and for controls who were matched for sex, age, and county of residence

	Women		Men
	Patients (n = 93)	Controls (n = 93)	Patients (n = 5)	Controls(n = 5)
Age (year)
mean	66	66	77	77
range	47–94	47–94	70–85	70–85
Height (cm)
mean	161	162	167	177
range	141–180	145–178	165–169	172–180
Weight (kg)
mean	66	66	74	77
range	33–96	37–92	67–88	72–85
BMD (g/cm^2)
mean	0.35	0.36	0.54	0.44
range	0.11–0.53	0.13–0.56	0.43–0.65	0.30–0.54

Table 2.  The descriptive mean T-score and mean Zscore of BMD for all patients (n = 88) and all the controls (n = 88) assessed by the heel-DXL measurement

	Women		Men
	mean	SD	mean	SD
T-score	–2.1	1.0	–1.9	1.1
Z-score	–0.8	0.9	–0.6	1.0

The independent samples t-test.

Table 3.  The mean T-score differences (the WHO criteria) between the female patients (n = 84) and the controls (n = 80) assessed by heel-DXL measurement. The subjects were divided into classes according to age

Age group (years)	No. of patients	T-score		No. of controls	T-score		Mean difference in T-score	P-value
		mean	SD		mean	SD
45–64	39	–1.77	0.80	37	–1.44	0.87	–0.33	0.09
≥ 65	45	–2.35	1.14	43	–2.30	1.18	–0.04	0.9

The independent samples t-test.

Figure 1. The mean scores according to the SF-36 for the patients (n = 88) and the controls (n = 84). All the items in the questionnaire are expressed: PF (Physical Function), RP (Role- Physical), BP (Bodily Pain), GH (General Health), VT (Vitality), SF (Social Function), RE (Role-Emotional) and MH (Mental Health), each with a score between 0 and 100. The sum indices of related subscores PCS (Physical Health) and MCS (Mental Health) are also shown.

Table 4.  Breakdown of the rate of patients (n = 87) and controls (n = 82) who had more than 1 fall during the previous year. The subjects were divided into classes according to age

Age group		Patients	rate	Controls	rate	Total	rate	P-value
45–64	Yes	10	0.3	7	0.2	17	0.2
	No	29	0.7	30	0.8	59	0.8
	Total	39		37		76		0.6
≥65	Yes	21	0.4	8	0.2	29	0.3
	No	27	0.6	37	0.8	64	0.7
	Total	48		45		93		0.008

Fisher's exact test.