Visit-to-visit variation of fasting plasma glucose is a predictor of hip fracture in older persons with type 2 diabetes: the Taiwan Diabetes Study

Summary We investigated the association between fasting plasma glucose variability (FPG-CV) and the risk of hip fracture in elderly diabetic patients. Our finding showed a temporal association between FPG-CV and hip fracture as patients categorized as FPG-CV greater than 25.4 % showed an increased risk in hip fractures. Introduction Hip fracture is a major health burden in the population and is associated with high rates of mortality and morbidity especially in elderly. It is evident that diabetes mellitus is a risk factor of osteoporosis which is a significant risk factor of hip fracture. However, epidemiological studies exploring the risks of hip fracture among type 2 diabetic patients are limited. Methods A retrospective study of 26,501 ethnic Chinese older persons enrolled in the National Diabetes Care Management program in Taiwan was conducted; related factors were analyzed with extended Cox proportional hazards regression models to competing risk data on hip fracture incidence. Results The results show a temporal association between FPG-CV and hip fracture as patients categorized as FPG-CV greater than 25.4 % showed an increased risk in hip fractures, confirming a linear relationship between the two. After multivariate adjustment, the risk of hip fracture increased among patients with FPG-CV of 25.4–42.3 % and >42.3 % compared with patients with FPG-CV of ≦ 14.3 % (hazard ratio, 1.35; 95 % confidence interval 1.14–1.60 and 1.27; 1.07–1.52, respectively). Significant linear trends among various FPG-CV were observed. Conclusions Thus, the present study demonstrated the importance of glucose stability for fracture prevention in older persons with type 2 diabetes. Future studies should be conducted to explore whether reduction in glucose oscillation in older adults with diabetes mellitus can reduce the risk of hip fracture.