PITTSBURGH, Dec. 18 – A single bone mineral density (BMD) test given 15 years earlier predicted a woman’s risk of developing fractures to her spine over time, according to the largest and longest prospective study of osteoporosis. The study, published in the Dec. 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and led by investigators at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, also found that women who had a spinal fracture at the start of the study were four times more likely to have another fracture. In fact, more than half of the women with low BMD and existing spinal fractures developed new fractures over the 15-year study period, raising concerns about the impact of so-called “silent” fractures to the spine.
