High cholesterol levels decrease the risk of spinal fractures

This study was published in Rheumatology International 2009 Jun;29(8):885-90

 

Study title and authors:

Serum lipid profile: its relationship with osteoporotic vertebrae fractures and bone mineral density in Turkish postmenopausal women.

Sivas F, Alemdaroğlu E, Elverici E, Kuluğ T, Ozoran K.

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.

 

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19043717

One of the aims of the study was to investigate the effect of cholesterol levels on the risk of fractures in the spine. The study included 107 postmenopausal women aged 45-79.

The study found:
(a) Woman without spinal fractures had 10.6% higher cholesterol levels compared to women with spinal fractures.
(b) Woman without spinal fractures had 14.2% higher levels of low density lipoprtein (LDL)cholesterol compared to women with spinal fractures.
(c) Every increase of 1 mg/dL in cholesterol levels decreased the risk of spinal fracture by 2.2%.