The association of proximal femur geometry with hip fracture risk

Abstract

We aimed to discuss the risk assessments of patients with hip fractures due to the fall-related moderate or minimal trauma and compare them with non-fractured control patients by bone mineral density (BMD) and proximal femur geometric measurements to assess whether geometric measurements of femoral dimensions were associated with femoral strength and hip fracture risk. Forty-two osteoporotic patients with proximal femur fracture and 40 osteoporotic non-fractured age and gender-matched controls were included in the study. Lunar DXA was used for BMD measurements and proximal femur geometric measurements were performed manually on direct X-rays as hip axial length (HAL), femoral length (FL), and femoral neck width (FW). The trochanteric and total BMD values of the fracture group were significantly lower than the control group. There was a significant increase in FW/FL ratio in the fracture group that would be of specific importance for guidance: if FL values did not increase as did FW, it would point out a risk for fracture. The trochanteric BMD values were correlated with all increased measurements in the control group. There are genetically determined adaptive differences among individuals concerning bone morphology and bone mineral distribution. These different adaptations result in different bone strengths and fracture formation risk.