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Bone Loss and Fracture Risk After Reduced Physical Activity
Author(s) -
Nordström Anna,
Karlsson Caroline,
Nyquist Fredrik,
Olsson Tommy,
Nordström Peter,
Karlsson Magnus
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of bone and mineral research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.882
H-Index - 241
eISSN - 1523-4681
pISSN - 0884-0431
DOI - 10.1359/jbmr.041012
Subject(s) - medicine , athletes , femoral neck , osteoporosis , incidence (geometry) , bone mineral , cohort , physical therapy , physics , optics
Former male young athletes partially lost benefits in BMD (g/cm 2 ) with cessation of exercise, but, despite this, had a higher BMD 4 years after cessation of career than a control group. A higher BMD might contribute to the lower incidence of fragility fractures found in former older athletes ⩾60 years of age compared with a control group. Introduction: Physical activity increases peak bone mass and may prevent osteoporosis if a residual high BMD is retained into old age. Materials and Methods: BMD was measured by DXA in 97 male young athletes 21.0 ± 4.5 years of age (SD) and 48 controls 22.4 ± 6.3 years of age, with measurements repeated 5 years later, when 55 of the athletes had retired from sports. In a second, older cohort, fracture incidence was recorded in 400 former older athletes and 800 controls ⩾60 years of age. Results: At baseline, the young athletes had higher BMD than controls in total body (mean difference, 0.08 g/cm 2 ), spine (mean difference, 0.10 g/cm 2 ), femoral neck (mean difference, 0.13 g/cm 2 ), and arms (mean difference, 0.05 g/cm 2 ; all p < 0.001). During the follow‐up period, the young athletes who retired lost more BMD than the still active athletes at the femoral neck (mean difference, 0.07 g/cm 2 ; p = 0.001) and gained less BMD at the total body (mean difference, 0.03 g/cm 2 ; p = 0.004). Nevertheless, BMD was still higher in the retired young athletes (mean difference, 0.06‐0.08 g/cm 2 ) than in the controls in the total body, femoral neck, and arms (all p < 0.05). In the older cohort, there were fewer former athletes ⩾60 of age than controls with fragility fractures (2.0% versus 4.2%; p < 0.05) and distal radius fractures (0.75% versus 2.5%; p < 0.05). Conclusions: Although exercise‐induced BMD benefits are reduced after retirement from sports, former male older athletes have fewer fractures than matched controls.