RA patients' fracture risk overestimated

February 9, 2004

Arthritis patients' fracture risk overestimated

Last Updated: 2004-02-06 14:39:55 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with rheumatoid arthritis are thought

to be liable to breaking bones as a result of bone-thinning

osteoporosis, but that may not be generally true, it seems.

With the exception of hip fractures, women with rheumatoid arthritis

(RA) do not have substantially more non-spinal fractures than women

without RA, researchers from Norway report in the ls of the

Rheumatic Diseases.

Dr. Ragnhild Orstavik, of Diakonhjemmet Hospital in Oslo and colleagues

compared the rate of self-reported fractures (excluding vertebrae) in

249 women with RA and equal number of matched controls. In both groups,

the subjects were about 63 years old and about the same weight.

Overall, fifty-three RA patients (21 percent) reported a total of 67

fractures while fifty control subjects (20 percent) reported 60

fractures.

" The similarity between the two groups in the number of subjects who

reported a previous fracture...was striking, " the team writes. This was

totally " unexpected, " Orstavik told Reuters Health, " as RA patients are

known to have an increased frequency of osteoporosis, which was also the

case in this study. "

They were also surprised to find no increase in wrist fractures in

patients with RA compared with controls (23 versus 28), " fractures that

are common in this age and sex group, and considered one of the classic

osteoporotic fractures, " Orstavik explained.

However, because of the small number of subjects in this study, no

strong conclusions can be drawn about individual fracture types, except

hip fractures, the team reports. Confirming prior studies, hip fractures

occurred significantly more often in RA patients than controls (10

versus 2).

SOURCE: ls of the Rheumatic Diseases, February 2004.

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