Osteoporosis epidemiology using international cohorts

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To provide an update on the most important new cohort studies within osteoporosis and their bearing on clinical management and directions for future research.

RECENT FINDINGS: We identified a collection of new observational cohort studies - including new reports from already established large cohorts - and intervention studies providing new insights into osteoporosis pathophysiology, risk finding, intervention, and treatment barriers.

SUMMARY: Recent cohort studies in osteoporosis highlight the importance of timely identification and treatment of people who are at high risk of suffering osteoporotic fractures. Physical performance is a strong indicator of fracture risk and one that is tightly linked to a number of chronic conditions, not least inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. Advances in case finding may involve opportunistic screening for low bone mineral density and vertebral fractures of radiology images obtained for other purposes, polygenic risk scores, and routinely collected medication and comorbidity information.