The Cost of Osteoporosis, Osteopenia, and Associated Fractures in Australia in 2017.

Osteoporosis and osteopenia are increasingly prevalent conditions among older adults. Not only do the fractures associated with poor bone health have significant health consequences for the individual, but also their economic impact is placing increasing financial burden on governments and society. This study aimed to determine the direct economic cost of osteoporosis, osteopenia, and fractures among Australians aged 50 years and older in 2017.

Immunological and nutritional factors in elderly people in low-level care and their association with mortality.

Background: This study examines associations between markers of nutritional status and lymphocyte subsets and seeks to determine if lymphocyte profile is predictive of survival in elderly Australians residing in aged care facilities. Aged yet still ambulatory subjects (n = 88, 73% female) living in low-level care and requiring minimal assistance were studied for 143 weeks. At baseline when participants were aged (mean ± SD) 86.

Teriparatide improves bone quality and healing of atypical femoral fractures associated with bisphosphonate therapy.

Bone remodelling suppressants like the bisphosphonates reduce bone loss and slow progression of structural decay. As remodelling removes damaged bone, when remodelling suppression is protracted, bone quality may be compromised predisposing to microdamage accumulation and atypical femoral fractures. The aim of this study was to determine whether teriparatide therapy assists in fracture healing and improves bone quality in patients with bisphosphonate associated atypical femoral fractures.

Weight loss in elderly women in low-level care and its association with transfer to high-level care and mortality.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine whether unintentional weight loss in older women predicts an imminent transition out of low-level care (either to higher-level care or by mortality).

Methods: Fifty-three Australian women, ambulatory while living in low-level care and requiring minimal assistance, were studied. At baseline, when the women were aged (mean ± standard deviation) 86.

Stepping towards prevention of bone loss after stroke: a systematic review of the skeletal effects of physical activity after stroke.

Bone loss after stroke is pronounced, and contributes to increased fracture risk. People who fracture after stroke experience reduced mobility and increased mortality. Physical activity can maintain or improve bone mineral density and structure in healthy older adults, likely reducing fracture risk.

Poor physical function in elderly women in low-level aged care is related to muscle strength rather than to measures of sarcopenia.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of sarcopenia and investigate relationships among body composition, muscle strength, and physical function in elderly women in low-level aged care.

Subjects And Methods: Sixty-three ambulatory women (mean age 86 years) participated in this cross-sectional study where body composition was determined by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA); ankle, knee, and hip strength by the Nicholas Manual Muscle Tester; and physical function by 'timed up and go' (TUG) and walking speed (WS) over 6 meters. Body composition data from a female reference group (n = 62, mean age 29 years) provided cut-off values for defining sarcopenia.

Trabecular bone of growth plate origin influences both trabecular and cortical morphology in adulthood.

Skeletal fragility is common at metaphyseal regions of long bones. The cortices of this region are derived by coalescence of trabeculae around the periphery of the growth plate, not by periosteal apposition, as occurs in the diaphyses. We therefore hypothesized that trabecular bone in childhood predicted both cortical and trabecular morphology in adulthood.

Intracortical remodelling and porosity in the distal radius and post-mortem femurs of women: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Osteoporosis research has focused on vertebral fractures and trabecular bone loss. However, non-vertebral fractures at predominantly cortical sites account for 80% of all fractures and most fracture-related morbidity and mortality in old age. We aimed to re-examine cortical bone as a source of bone loss in the appendicular skeleton.

Rapid growth produces transient cortical weakness: a risk factor for metaphyseal fractures during puberty.

Fractures of the distal radius in children have a similar incidence to that found in postmenopausal women but occur more commonly in boys than in girls. Fractures of the distal tibia are uncommon in children and show no sex specificity. About 90% of lengthening of the radius but only 30% of lengthening of the tibia during puberty occur at the distal growth plate.

Differences in macro- and microarchitecture of the appendicular skeleton in young Chinese and white women.

To identify the racial differences in macro- and microstructure of the distal radius and tibia that may account for the lower fracture rates in Asians than whites, we studied 61 healthy premenopausal Chinese and 111 white women 18-45 yr of age using high-resolution pQCT (HR-pQCT). The Chinese were shorter and leaner. Distal radius total cross-sectional area (CSA) was 14.

The age of puberty determines sexual dimorphism in bone structure: a male/female co-twin control study.

Background: Taller stature and larger bone size in males are attributed to more rapid growth than in females. However, comparing sexes of the same age mismatches by pubertal stage, so males will be less mature than females. Comparing sexes of the same pubertal stage mismatches by age, so males will be older than females.

Exercise and calcium combined results in a greater osteogenic effect than either factor alone: a blinded randomized placebo-controlled trial in boys.

Unlabelled: We examined the combined effects of exercise and calcium on BMC accrual in pre- and early-pubertal boys. Exercise and calcium together resulted in a 2% greater increase in femur BMC than either factor alone and a 3% greater increase in BMC at the tibia-fibula compared with the placebo group. Increasing dietary calcium seems to be important for optimizing the osteogenic effects of exercise.

Depression in anorexia nervosa: a risk factor for osteoporosis.

Context: Both anorexia nervosa (AN) and depression are associated with osteoporosis. We hypothesized that adolescent girls with AN and depression will have lower bone mineral density (BMD) than anorexic girls without depression.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether depression is an independent risk factor for osteoporosis in anorexic adolescent girls.

Diet and exercise during growth have site-specific skeletal effects: a co-twin control study.

Exercise and improved nutrition offer safe, low-cost and widely applicable approaches to potentially reduce the burden of fractures. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 30 monozygotic and 26 dizygotic male twin pairs, aged 7-20 years to test the following hypotheses: (1) Associations between bone mass and dimensions and exercise are greater than between bone mass and dimensions and protein or calcium intakes; (2) exercise or nutrient intake are associated with appendicular bone mass before puberty and axial bone mass during and after puberty. Total body and posteroanterior (PA) lumbar spine bone mineral content (BMC) and mid-femoral shaft dimensions were measured using dual energy X-ray absorptometry (DEXA).

Regional specificity of exercise and calcium during skeletal growth in girls: a randomized controlled trial.

Combining exercise with calcium supplementation may produce additive or multiplicative effects at loaded sites; thus, we conducted a single blind, prospective, randomized controlled study in pre- and early-pubertal girls to test the following hypotheses. (1) At the loaded sites, exercise and calcium will produce greater benefits than exercise or calcium alone. (2) At non-loaded sites, exercise will have no benefit, whereas calcium with or without exercise will increase bone mass over that in exercise alone or no intervention.