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 Researchers followed more than 2,000 pre-menopausal women with no
history of bone fractures for nearly 15 years. By the end of that
time, some women with high triglycerides were more than twice as
likely as others to have experienced a fracture.
While the study doesn't prove that high triglycerides cause
fractures, it "supports this possibility," said senior study author
Dr. Jennifer Lee, a researcher at Stanford University and Palo Alto
Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California.
"This study suggests that women entering the midlife should take
action to lower elevated triglycerides," Lee added by email.
During menopause, as estrogen levels decline, levels of fats in the
blood increase over time as part of the aging process. Fracture risk
also increases, although it’s not clear if blood fats and bone
strength are related, or how, Lee’s team writes in the Journal of
Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
To explore this question, Lee and her colleagues analyzed data from
a large, long-term study of women who were 42 to 52 years old when
they were enrolled at seven U.S. sites between 1995 and 1997.
At the start of the study, half of the women were at least 46 years
old and many were overweight. Three quarters of them had low to
normal triglyceride levels.
Blood triglyceride concentrations of less than 150 milligrams per
deciliter (mg/dL) are considered normal, while levels from 150 mg/dL
to 199 mg/dL are considered borderline high and anything above 199
is too high.
After reviewing data from the women’s annual medical exams over the
next 13 years, the study team found that 147 women had what's known
as nontraumatic fractures – broken bones, but not the result of a
traumatic accident like a car crash. About a third of these injuries
were fractures of the foot, while about 16 percent were broken
ankles and 13 percent were broken wrists.
An increase of 50 mg/dL in a woman’s triglyceride levels during one
of the annual exams was associated with a 31 percent increased risk
of fractures two to five years later and an overall 11 percent
increase in fracture risk.
Women who started out with triglycerides over 300 mg/dL before
menopause were also two and a half times more likely to experience
fractures by the end of the 13-year study than women who started
with levels below 150 mg/dL.
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Other factors may influence the association between elevated
triglycerides and fractures, said Dr. Walter Willett, a nutrition
and public health researcher at Harvard University who wasn't
involved in the study.
"The findings should be interpreted cautiously because triglycerides
are a sensitive marker of a bad metabolic state related to lower
physical activity, high intake of unhealthy carbohydrates and
unhealthy fats, and a prediabetic state," Willett said by email.
Still, an increase in triglycerides is a red flag that lifestyle
changes may be needed, he added.
"Regular physical activity and healthy diets will lower
triglycerides and have many health benefits, including lower risk of
fracture," Willett said.
At the same time, women may avert fractures by taking steps to
prevent falls and other accidents, noted Naila Khalil, a community
health researcher at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, who
wasn't involved in the study.
Women can prevent falls by doing exercises to strengthen balance and
muscle tone, getting regular eye exams, removing loose rugs from
rooms, placing furniture with easy paths to navigate, proper
lighting, and supports or rails on stairs and in bathrooms to
prevent tripping, Khalil said by email.
To lower the odds of fractures, women should get adequate amounts of
calcium and vitamin D, exercise several times a week, and have bone
mineral density tests to assess if they should take medications to
decrease bone loss, Khalil added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1YzBZhR Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and
Metabolism, online June 13, 2016.
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