Diabetes Patients Have Higher Risk Of Vertebral Fractures, Study Suggests

People with type 2 diabetes are likely at an increased risk of vertebral fractures, a study suggested. According to the research, an individual with high blood sugar levels should seek treatment for osteoporosis to reduce the risk of fractures.

The study that was published in the medical journal Diabetes Care last month looked into the association between vertebral fracture and type 2 diabetes. The research also looked into the association of this chronic disease with mortality and nonvertebral fractures.

For the study, the research team analyzed the results of 15 previous studies that included a total of 852,705 diabetes patients. The participants had a lower risk of prevalent, but increased risk of incident vertebral fractures.

The study team found that people with type 2 diabetes and vertebral fractures had a higher risk of nonvertebral fractures and mortality than those with either of the two or the individuals who were not diagnosed with any of them. The research suggested that obese and overweight diabetes patients were at greater risk of fractures.

The researchers also found that diabetes patients without vertebral fractures had a 94 percent greater risk of broken bones compared with those who did not have this illness. So, the study team recommended osteoporosis treatment for people with this chronic disease for preventing the risk of broken bones.

"Currently, there are no specific guidelines for the assessment of fracture risk or treatment of osteoporosis in individuals with type 2 diabetes," the study team wrote. "Based on our findings, we suggest that individuals with type 2 diabetes should be systematically assessed for the presence of vertebral fractures."

The researchers also found that non-diabetics with vertebral fractures had a 73 percent increased risk of broken bones than those who were not diagnosed with it.

"Notoriously, presence of vertebral fractures in patients with type 2 diabetes also constitutes a call for attention to potentially frail individuals at higher risk of mortality than that expected from type 2 diabetes alone," the team wrote.

A limitation of the study is that it was not designed to look into the association between various types of diabetes treatments and the risk of broken bones. The research was also not designed to analyze the details on how the risk of broken bones is tied to premature death.

Type 2 diabetes is a major health problem with more than 400 million people living with it globally. The number will approximately rise to 700 million by 2045, according to the International Diabetes Federation.