Patients with sarcoidosis have an increased risk of fragility fracture, which is primarily driven by the higher incidence of distal forearm fracture, according to a recent study. This study was conducted using a previously identified population-based cohort of 345 patients with incident sarcoidosis from Olmsted County, Minnesota. Sex- and age-matched subjects randomly selected from the same underlying population were used as comparators. Medical records of cases and comparators were reviewed for baseline characteristics and incident fragility fracture. Researchers found:

• Fragility fractures were observed in 34 patients with sarcoidosis, corresponding to a cumulative incidence of 5.6% at 10 years, while 18 fragility fractures were observed among comparators for a cumulative incidence of 2.4% at 10 years.
• The hazard ratio (HR) of fragility fractures among cases compared with comparators was 2.18.
• The risk of fragility fracture by site was significantly higher among patients with sarcoidosis and was due to a higher rate of distal forearm fracture (HR 3.58).
• Statistically non-significant increased risk was also observed in proximal femur (HR 1.66) and proximal humerus (HR 3.27).
• Risk of vertebral fracture was not increased (HR 1.00).