Older women with diabetes have a higher risk of falls: a prospective study.

Objective: To determine whether older women with diabetes have an increased risk of falls and whether known risk factors for falls account for any increased risk.

Research Design And Methods: This prospective cohort study included 9,249 women > or =67 years of age enrolled in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Diabetes was determined by questionnaire at baseline.

Suturing versus conservative management of lacerations of the hand: randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To assess the difference in clinical outcome between lacerations of the hand closed with sutures and those treated conservatively.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Emergency department in a tertiary hospital.

American Society of Clinical Oncology technology assessment of pharmacologic interventions for breast cancer risk reduction including tamoxifen, raloxifene, and aromatase inhibition.

Objective: To update an evidence-based technology assessment of chemoprevention strategies for breast cancer risk reduction. POTENTIAL INTERVENTIONS: Tamoxifen, raloxifene, aromatase inhibition, and fenretinide.

Outcomes: Outcomes of interest include breast cancer incidence, breast cancer-specific survival, overall survival, and net health benefit.

Very low prevalence of hip osteoarthritis among Chinese elderly in Beijing, China, compared with whites in the United States: the Beijing osteoarthritis study.

Objective: To compare the prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip among elderly persons in China and the US.

Methods: We recruited a population-based sample of 1,506 persons (82% of those enumerated) ages > or = 60 years living in Beijing, China. Subjects answered questions about joint symptoms and underwent radiography of the pelvis.

Epidemiology and outcomes of osteoporotic fractures.

Bone mass declines and the risk of fractures increases as people age, especially as women pass through the menopause. Hip fractures, the most serious outcome of osteoporosis, are becoming more frequent than before because the world's population is ageing and because the frequency of hip fractures is increasing by 1-3% per year in most areas of the world. Rates of hip fracture vary more widely from region to region than does the prevalence of vertebral fractures.

Bone mineral density is not diminished by mild to moderate chronic renal insufficiency.

Background: Persons with end-stage renal disease are at higher risk for osteopenia and hip fracture relative to the age-matched general population. Persons with mild to moderate chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) may have reduced bone mineral density (BMD) as a result of abnormalities in acid-base and vitamin D-parathyroid hormone homeostasis.

Methods: We analyzed data on 13,848 adults aged 20 and above from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III; 1988-1994).

Rapid resting heart rate: a simple and powerful predictor of osteoporotic fractures and mortality in older women.

Objectives: To determine whether resting heart rate is associated with several types of osteoporotic fractures, mortality, and cause-specific mortality in older women.

Design: A prospective cohort study.

Setting: Four communities across the United States.

Improvement in spine bone density and reduction in risk of vertebral fractures during treatment with antiresorptive drugs.

Purpose: To estimate how much the improvement in bone mass accounts for the reduction in risk of vertebral fracture that has been observed in randomized trials of antiresorptive treatments for osteoporosis.

Methods: After a systematic search, we conducted a meta-analysis of 12 trials to describe the relation between improvement in spine bone mineral density and reduction in risk of vertebral fracture in postmenopausal women. We also used logistic models to estimate the proportion of the reduction in risk of vertebral fracture observed with alendronate in the Fracture Intervention Trial that was due to improvement in bone mineral density.

Serum estradiol level and risk of breast cancer during treatment with raloxifene.

Context: As endogenous estradiol increases, risk of breast cancer increases. Raloxifene competes with endogenous estrogen for binding to estrogen receptors in breast tissue. A woman's estradiol level may alter the effects of raloxifene on breast cancer and other outcomes.