Introduction:

Fragility fractures are a frequent complication of osteoporosis and lead to increased morbidity and mortality, as well as decreasing quality of life of the elderly popu lation, and represents high costs for health care systems. After minor trauma, fractures of the femoral neck, distal radius, proximal humerus, and thoraco-lumbar vertebrae are associated with osteoporosis, and are considered fragility fractures.

Objective:

To identify the prevalence of risk factors in people over 50 years of age with fragility fractures treated at a third level hospital in the department of Boyacá, Colombia.

Methodology:

Observational, descriptive, retrospective cross-sectional study. An evaluation was made on 242 patients between 50 and 100 years of age with any of the previously mentioned 4 fragility fractures. Fracture diagnosis had to be confirmed by plain radiography or computed tomography.

Results:

The majority (62.8%) of the study population was female. Age was associated with an increase in the number of femur fractures. A history of previous fractures was observed in 10.7% of the cases, with prevalence increasing with age. Distal radius fracture was the most frequent in 36.8% of the population. About 40% of the patients had hypertension and 7.9% were diabetic. Chronic use of proton pump inhibitors was observed in 9.7%, and 2.4% consumed glucocorticoids prior to the event.

Conclusions:

The behaviour of fragility fractures of the population in our institution is simi lar to that of other places, both nationally and internationally. It is therefore important to start raising awareness about secondary prevention of osteoporosis, in order to reduce complications, improve outcomes, and reduce associated costs.

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