Purpose of review: We review the literature about patients 50 years and older with a recent clinical fracture for the presence of skeletal and extra-skeletal risks, their perspectives of imminent subsequent fracture, falls, mortality, and other risks, and on the role of the fracture liaison service (FLS) for timely secondary fracture prevention.
Recent findings: Patients with a recent clinical fracture present with heterogeneous patterns of bone-, fall-, and comorbidity-related risks. Short-term perspectives include bone loss, increased risk of fractures, falls, and mortality, and a decrease in physical performance and quality of life. Combined evaluation of bone, fall risk, and the presence of associated comorbidities contributes to treatment strategies. Since fractures are related to interactions of bone-, fall-, and comorbidity-related risks, there is no one-single-discipline-fits-all approach but a need for a multidisciplinary approach at the FLS to consider all phenotypes for evaluation and treatment in an individual patient.
Keywords: Bone microarchitecture; Comorbidities; Fall risk; Fracture liaison service; Fracture phenotypes; Imminent fracture risk; Mortality; Post-fracture care; Secondary osteoporosis; Vertebral fracture.
© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.