Elamin Ahmed H, Al-Dadah O. Bone mineral density in fracture neck of femur patients: What's the significance? World J Orthop 2022; 13(2): 160-170 [PMID: 35317402 DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v13.i2.160]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Hussam Elamin Ahmed, MBBS, Doctor, Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, South Tyneside District Hospital, Harton Lane, South Tyneside NE34 0PL, United Kingdom. hussam.elamin-ahmed@nhs.net
Research Domain of This Article
Orthopedics
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Orthop. Feb 18, 2022; 13(2): 160-170 Published online Feb 18, 2022. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v13.i2.160
Bone mineral density in fracture neck of femur patients: What's the significance?
Hussam Elamin Ahmed, Oday Al-Dadah
Hussam Elamin Ahmed, Oday Al-Dadah, Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, South Tyneside District Hospital, Harton Lane, South Tyneside NE34 0PL, United Kingdom
Oday Al-Dadah, Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE2 4HH, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Elamin Ahmed H contributed to study design, literature review and manuscript production; Al-Dadah O contributed to study design, literature review, statistical analysis and manuscript production.
Institutional review board statement: This was a retrospective observational cohort study which did not require IRB/ Ethics Committee approval.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from all patients as part of their routine clinical care in this pragmatic study which evaluated the existing clinical practice within the department.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hussam Elamin Ahmed, MBBS, Doctor, Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, South Tyneside District Hospital, Harton Lane, South Tyneside NE34 0PL, United Kingdom. hussam.elamin-ahmed@nhs.net
Received: May 9, 2021 Peer-review started: May 9, 2021 First decision: June 16, 2021 Revised: July 1, 2021 Accepted: January 11, 2022 Article in press: January 11, 2022 Published online: February 18, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
There has been a steady increase in fragility fractures in the United Kingdom and worldwide. This has been seen in the increased number of patients admitted with fracture neck of femur. It is essential to gain a further understanding of the aetiology to understand preventative measures.
Research motivation
Increased prevalence of osteoporosis fragility fractures in the NHS, causing an increased economic burden.
Research objectives
The aim of this study was to investigate the significance of bone mineral density (BMD) in fracture neck of femur patients and compare it to the outcome of the Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) score.
Research methods
Statistical analyses undertaken to ascertain the relationship between BMD and the individual factors included in the FRAX score.
Research results
The results in this study place more emphasis on BMD when assessing fracture risk, in comparison to key factors incorporated into the FRAX predictive score. Menopause age and female gender had an indeterminate influence on BMD, as well as World Health Organization classification of osteoporosis. BMI had a significant influence on BMD. Osteoporosis was more common in patients with extra-capsular hip fracture patterns. This study shows that BMD is significant in assessing risk of fracture neck of femur in comparison to the FRAX predictive score.
Research conclusions
This study demonstrated that BMD of the femoral neck measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan is of added prognostic value when assessing patients for risk of fracture neck of femur in combination with the FRAX predictive scoring system.
Research perspectives
The findings in this paper also support the requirement for further research into the use of BMD as a surrogate biomarker for both fracture risk and osteoporosis prevention and management. This may be in the context of a cross-sectional study of fragility fractures at differing ages group and further appropriate stratification as per age, with confounding factors adjusted for.
