Risk Factors
Hip fracture following a fall is likely to be a pathological fracture. The most common causes of weakness in bone are:
- Osteoporosis.
- Homocysteine, a toxic 'natural' amino acid linked to the cause of heart disease,
- Other metabolic bone diseases such as Paget's disease, osteomalacia, osteopetrosis and osteogenesis imperfecta. Stress fractures may occur in the hip region with metabolic bone disease.
- Benign or malignant primary bone tumours are rare causes of hip fractures.
- Metastatic cancer deposits in the proximal femur may weaken the bone and cause a pathological hip fracture.
- Infection in the bone is a rare cause of hip fracture.
Read more about this topic: Hip Fracture
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