Cognition, frailty, and falls: should they be part of fracture risk assessment?

Osteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to break more easily. It puts people at higher risk for illness, death, worse quality of life, and can cost the person and the healthcare system a lot of money. A person’s likelihood of experiencing a fracture in the next 10 years can be calculated using fracture risk assessment tools like the FRAX and CAROC. Current fracture risk assessment tools include items like age, sex, bone mineral density, and steroid use. However, they do not include items that are relevant to older adults like cognitive impairment, frailty, and falls. Our study will examine the association between cognition, frailty, falls and fracture risk for community-dwelling older adults. We will use data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Our study will demonstrate whether cognition, frailty, and falls could be included in fracture risk assessment tools, making them more relevant for older adults and potentially predicting fractures better.