The Study
Low Lean Mass Predicts Incident Fractures Independently From FRAX: a Prospective Cohort Study of Recent Retirees
This study watched a group of healthy 65-year-olds for three years and noticed that people with less muscle mass were more likely to break a bone. But it didn’t make anyone change their muscle — it just watched what happened. So we can say muscle and broken bones are linked, but we don’t know if low muscle causes the breaks or if something else is going on.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at older people to see if having less muscle mass makes them more likely to break a bone from a simple fall.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 560 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes—this means even if your bones seem okay, weak muscles can still put you at serious risk of breaking a bone from a fall.
- 2People with very low muscle mass (using a specific measurement) were 2.3 times more likely to break a bone in 3 years—even if their bones were strong.
- 3If they also had weak bones, their risk jumped to 3.4 times higher.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of Bone and Mineral Research
Year
2016
Authors
M. Hars, E. Biver, T. Chevalley, F. Herrmann, R. Rizzoli, S. Ferrari, A. Trombetti
Related Content
Claims (6)
The ability to predict fracture risk using low lean mass depends on which diagnostic criteria are used; Baumgartner criteria predict fractures reliably, while FNIH and Delmonico criteria do not.
Measuring low lean mass using the Baumgartner criteria improves the accuracy of the FRAX tool in predicting who will suffer low-trauma fractures, beyond what is already predicted by bone density and clinical risk factors.
People with both low muscle mass and osteoporosis have 3.39 times higher risk of breaking a bone from a minor fall than people with normal muscle mass and bone density.
Adults aged 65 with low muscle mass relative to their height have a 2.32 times higher rate of fractures from minor falls over three years, even when accounting for bone density and existing fracture risk calculations.
Of the different ways to define sarcopenia, only the measure based on lean mass adjusted for height squared is consistently linked to higher fracture risk after accounting for other factors; other definitions are not.
Muscle mass naturally decreases by 3–5% every ten years starting in the 30s, and this loss speeds up after age 60, resulting in weaker physical performance.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.