Relationship between the FRAX® score and falls in community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly people

Ling-Chun Ou; Yin-Fan Chang; Chin-Sung Chang; Ting-Hsing Chao; Ruey-Mo Lin; Zih-Jie Sun; Chih-Hsing Wu

doi:10.1016/j.afos.2016.10.004

Relationship between the FRAX^® score and falls in community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly people

Osteoporos Sarcopenia. 2016 Dec;2(4):221-227. doi: 10.1016/j.afos.2016.10.004. Epub 2016 Dec 10.

Authors

Ling-Chun Ou^{1

2

3}, Yin-Fan Chang⁴, Chin-Sung Chang⁴, Ting-Hsing Chao⁵, Ruey-Mo Lin⁶, Zih-Jie Sun⁴, Chih-Hsing Wu^{4

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Family Medicine, Antai Medical Cooperation Tien Sheng Memorial Hospital, PingTung, Taiwan.
² Department of Nursing, Meiho University, PingTung, Taiwan.
³ College of Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Family Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Orthopedics, Tainan Municipal An-Nan Hospital-China Medical University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁷ Institute of Gerontology, National Cheng Kung University Medical College, Tainan, Taiwan.

Abstract

Objectives: Falls is a risk factor for fracture. The FRAX^® predicts fractures. Whether the FRAX^® is associated with fall in both gender is inconclusive. The aim of our study is to evaluate the association between FRAX scores and falls.

Methods: The cross-sectional study set from 2009 to 2010 included 1200 community-dwelling people who were systematically sampled in central Taiwan. The 1200 participants (men: 524; women: 676; ≥40 years old) completed questionnaires about socioeconomic status; lifestyle; medical and fall history were completed. FRAX scores with and without bone mineral density (BMD) were calculated by using the Taiwan calculator.

Results: A total of 19.8% participants fell down. Binary regression models showed that diabetes mellitus history (OR: 1.61; 95% CI: 1.03-2.52), the FRAX without BMD in a continuous major score (OR: 1.06; 95% CI: 1.03-1.09), continuous hip score (OR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.05-1.16), categorical major score ≥ 10% (OR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.25-2.61), and categorical hip score ≥ 3% (OR: 1.80; 95% CI: 1.30-2.50) were independent risk factors for falls. FRAX with BMD in a continuous major score (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.02-1.06), continuous hip score (OR: 1.06; 95% CI: 1.02-1.09), categorical major score ≥ 10% (OR: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.09-2.12), and categorical hip score ≥ 3% (OR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.13-2.09) were also independent risk factors.

Conclusions: We concluded that FRAX^® scores with and without BMD were unanimously correlated with falls in community-dwelling middle-aged and elderly males and females.

Keywords: Community; Diabetes mellitus (DM); FRAX; Falls; Fracture.