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Differences in body composition between female geriatric hip fracture patients and healthy controls: Body fat is more important as explanatory factor for the fracture than body weight and lean body mass

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Abstract

Body weight and body composition change with advancing age. In elderly women, the loss of body weight is partially due to loss of body fat. We compared the body composition of 71 healthy female hip fracture patients and 51 controls. Body composition was estimated with an electrical impedance technique. The fracture patients had lower body weight, lean body mass, body fat, body fat percentage, body mass index and age than the control group. No significant differences were found between the different fracture groups, except for a higher mean age in patients with subtrochanteric fractures. Multivariate logistic regression analysis of body composition, body mass index, and age showed that the amount of body fat, when adjusted for age, had greater explanatory value for fracture, than body weight, lean body mass, and body mass index.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Medicine, Section of Geriatric Medicine, University of Lund, Värnhem Hospital, S-212 16, Malmö, Sweden

    H. Galvard M.D., S. Elmståhl, S-M. Samuelsson & E. Robertsson

  2. Diagnostic Radiology, Lund University, Malmö University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden

    B. Elmståhl

Authors
  1. H. Galvard M.D.
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  2. S. Elmståhl
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  3. B. Elmståhl
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  4. S-M. Samuelsson
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  5. E. Robertsson
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Galvard, H., Elmståhl, S., Elmståhl, B. et al. Differences in body composition between female geriatric hip fracture patients and healthy controls: Body fat is more important as explanatory factor for the fracture than body weight and lean body mass. Aging Clin Exp Res 8, 282–286 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03339580

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03339580

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