Cancer Treatment Major Cause of Hip Fractures

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HIP FRACTURES: Cancer treatment is a major cause

Hip and pelvic fractures are a major health worry, especially among post-menopausal women. The risk of a fracture rises to 17 per cent in women over the age of 50, and up to 20 per cent of these die within a year.

Overall, 1 per cent of all deaths in older women are causally related to a hip fracture, making it a killer that’s almost as deadly as breast cancer.

Most hip fractures are blamed on the changes following the menopause - but researchers have found another major cause. They’ve discovered that pelvic irradiation, given as a therapy for rectal cancer, significantly increases the risk of a fracture. Irradiation therapy increased the risk by more than three times, depending on the type of cancer being treated, the research team found.

Irradiation therapy may well cause a fracture - which in itself is one of the main ladykillers in the West - and women should be told of the risks before treatment begins, researchers advise.

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2005; 294: 2587-93).