Hip fractures increase with chronic damage to intestine in coeliac disease

People with coeliac disease who have chronic damage of the small intestine are more likely to fracture their hip, says research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Experts looked at tissue samples from 7,146 people in Sweden (average age 23 years) who had coeliac disease and had biopsies between six months and five years after their diagnoses.

Chronic damage of their intestine affected 43% of the participants. Over the 10 year follow up period, 14% of people had a fracture. No fracture was significantly associated with intestinal damage other than hip.

The authors suggest that follow-up biopsies of people with coeliac disease would be a useful way of seeing how their intestines have healed, and thus if they are at increased risk of fracture or not.

To read the original research visit http://press.endocrine.org/doi/abs/10.1210/jc.2013-3164.