Cognitive decline may help predict future fracture risk in women – sciencedaily

The study of people aged 65 and older was conducted over 16 years and revealed a potential new approach to help identify older people who may be at risk for fractures.

“Bone loss and cognitive decline are major public health problems, but both are ‘silent diseases’ that can go unnoticed and untreated for long periods of time, often until conditions have greatly progressed,” explains Professor Jacqueline Center, responsible for clinical studies and epidemiology.Lab Garvan, endocrinologist at St Vincent Hospital and lead author of the results published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

“Our study found a link between the two in women, suggesting that cognition should be monitored along with bone health, as a decline in one could mean a decline in the other. can help refine best practice guidelines on how cognition and bone health is monitored in the elderly, to ensure that appropriate treatment can be administered more effectively. ”

New perspectives on major public health issues

Globally, 200 million people are affected by osteoporosis and more than 35 million by dementia – a number that is expected to double over the next two decades due to a global increase in life expectancy.

“Cognitive decline and bone loss both lead to increased disability, loss of independence and increased risk of death. There is some evidence that older people with dementia have a higher risk of hip fractures, but the decline in bone and cognitive health is related over time has not been studied, ”says Dr. Dana Bliuc of the Garvan Institute, who is the first author of the article.

“We set out to understand the long-term association, our study being the first to examine cognitive and bone health data over more than 15 years.”

The team used data from the Canadian Multicenter Osteoporosis Study (CaMos), which has documented the skeletal health of people living in the community since 1995. Researchers looked at measures of cognitive and bone health from 1741. women and 620 men aged 65 and over, who had no symptoms of cognitive decline at the start of the study.

Link cognition and bone health

“After adjusting for all other variables, we observed a significant association between a decline in cognitive health and bone loss in women. This association was weaker and not statistically significant in men,” explains Dr. Bliuc.

“Interestingly, we also found that cognitive decline in the first five years was associated with a 1.7-fold increase in the risk of future fracture in women over the next 10 years. level of bone loss, ”adds Dr. Bliuc.

“Although this study could not identify a causal link – that a decline in cognitive function leads to decreased bone loss, or vice versa – it suggests that cognitive decline should be monitored along with bone health because a decline in one signal the need for heightened vigilance in the other, ”says Professor Center.

The researchers add that the link could potentially be mediated by a third factor, such as estrogen deficiency, which affects women after menopause and has been independently associated with both bone loss and cognitive decline. This research also opens the door to further studies on the link between these two common conditions.

“What our study highlights is that cognitive health is potentially an important factor in providing more information to individuals and their healthcare professionals about fracture risk, and ultimately improving health outcomes. our elderly population, ”says Professor Center.