Does Nutrition Impact Hip Fragility Fracture Risk and Outcomes? The Case of Malnutrition and Bone Health

Ray Marks

Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, USA

Dr. Ray Marks, Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, USA.

Keywords: Foods; Frailty; Hip Fractures; Malnutrition; Malnourishment; Older Adults; Prevention; Sarcopenia; Surgery; Undernutrition

Abstract

Hip fractures and their causative and reparative solutions remain suboptimal despite years of research. One potentially remedial as well as causative factor, namely poor or malnutrition, which has been studied for some time in various health contexts, still remains somewhat in question and is not truly integrated or translated into clinical preventive practices against hip fractures among the elderly. This mini review examines the degree of support for considering more concerted nutritional screening efforts, plus targeted nutritional programs among vulnerable older adults in an effort to offset the immense disability associated with the presence of osteoporosis and possible subsequent hip fragility fractures, whenever, and wherever they occur. Based largely on a five year literature analysis on this topic extending between 2018-2022, articles listed in the PUBMED database show little emphasis on securing nutrition as a hip fracture antecedent, yet imply more consideration of the value of nutrition based prevention approaches that provide for bone and muscle building in at risk individuals is likely to be valuable. Moreover, screening for malnutrition before and after hip fracture surgery may prove more beneficial than not in attempts to reduce the immense public health as well as personal impact and costs of one or more disabling hip fractures among the elderly, regardless of originating country.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).