Description:
Abstract Background Osteoporosis is a public health problem worldwide responsible for fragility fractures (FF). All osteoporotic fractures, correspond to an estimated 40 000 annual osteoporotic fractures in Portugal. The social and economic burden of these fractures is enormous. Most patients die within one year after the fracture and 50% become dependent on others to perform basic self-care. The aim of this research is to study the association between sociodemographic and clinical factors that can influence the occurrence of FF in Portuguese women ≥ 50 years. Methods Data were collected from women ≥ 50 years participating in the prospective population-based cohort study called Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases, who self-reported to surfered FF during 2011 and 2015. Were collected sociodemographic and clinical data, and quality of life (EQ-5D). We divided this group in 2 subgroups: with and without prevalent FF. Descriptive, bivariate analysis and Odds Ratio were estimated. All statistical tests were performed using the SPSS 26, considering the significance level of 5%. Results A total of 3,662 women ≥ 50 years of age were included and divided into 2 subgroups with (N = 646) and without FF (N = 2,978). In the group of women with FF, rheumatic disease was the most self-reported chronic disease (62.9%), followed by hypertension (58.8%) and mental illness (30.0%). There was a significant association between the existence of FF and hypertension (OR = 0.82 (0.68-0.98); p-0.03), diabetes mellitus (OR = 0.78 (0.63-0.97); p-0.02) and mental illness (OR = 0.70 (0.57-0.85); p < 0.0001), even when adjusted for age and rheumatic disease. There was no significant association between the existence of FF and education, when the OR was adjusted for age and rheumatic disease. Quality of life was reported as worse in women with FF. Conclusions FF are associated with non-communicable chronic diseases and this should awareness to the need to have health policies that focus on prevention. Key messages Osteoporosis is a public health problem worldwide responsible for fragility fractures. It is urgent address this problem as a non-communicable chronic diseases and start to work in prevention. Population aging combined with new professions and lifestyles, predict that this problem will tend to increase exponentially in the next years.