Hyperparathyroidism Surgery Reduces Fracture Risk

A Danish study has found that the risk of fracture increases in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism up to 10 years before surgery but returns to normal after surgery. The study was conducted by researchers from Aarhus University Hospital (Aarhus) and Rigshospitalet (Copenhagen) and reported in the British Medical Journal (2000;321:598-602).

The study involved 674 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (aged 13-89 years). Before surgery, patients had an increased relative rate of fractures compared with the controls of 1.8, which dropped to normal (1.0) after surgery. Before surgery, the risk of fracture was increased for the vertebrae (3.5), the distal part of the lower leg and ankles (2.3) and the nondistal part of the forearm (4.0).

The increase in fracture risk began about 10 years before surgery. The risk peaked five to six years before surgery and remained raised, although at a lower level, in the five years immediately before surgery. A small increase in fracture risk of the distal forearm became evident more than 10 years after surgery.