BONE-DENSITY OF THE CALCANEUS AND FRACTURES IN 75-YEAR-OLD AND 80-YEAR-OLD MEN AND WOMEN

Bone mineral density of the calcaneus in relation to fractures was stu died both retrospectively and prospectively among the 75- and 80-year- old men and women resident in the city of Jyvaskyla, Finland, in 1989 and 1990, respectively. The bone measurements were performed at the ca lcaneus by I-125-photon absorption. Retrospective fracture (RF) histor y after age 50 was collected by questionnaire and interview, and repor ted fractures were checked from medical records. In the retrospective study, in the 75-year-olds a fracture was found in 22% (n=22) of men a nd in 45% (n=84) of women. The corresponding figures for the 80-year-o lds were 16% (n=9) and 35% (n=48). Over half of the fractures were of the wrist/hand or ankle/leg. Prospective fractures (PF) were recorded over periods of 29-34 months. Twenty of the 75-year-olds and 16 of the 80-year-olds sustained a fracture during the follow-up period. In the 75-year-olds, the results showed that both RF and PF women, together with the RF men, had lower bone area density (BMD(a)) and volume densi ty (BMD(v)) than the non-fracture (NF) subjects (p=0.001.0.011). In th e 80-year-olds, significantly lower BMD(a) was found in the RF women ( p=0.008) and lower BMD(a) in the PF women (p=0.024) compared with the NF subjects. During the follow-up period there were no fractures in ei ther of the sex or age groups among those with BMD(a) and BMD(v) value s greater than 1 SD above the mean. When using logistic regression ana lysis, BMD(v) alone explained about 60% of overall fracture probabilit y among the women studied.