An Investigation Into Bone Micro-architecture in Women With Type 2 Diabetes

The number of people with type 2 diabetes is growing. This puts a lot of pressure on the health care systems. Type 2 diabetes is often associated with health problems, like poor eyesight, muscle coordination, muscle strength, and blood flow. Poor bone health may also be a concern for people with type 2 diabetes.

A large proportion of people with type 2 diabetes will break a bone in their lifetime. The risk of this happening in older people with type 2 diabetes is greater than the risk in older people without diabetes. Fracturing a bone can be very painful, and lead to serious consequences, especially if the individual experiences a hip fracture. The elevated fracture risk, seen in those with type 2 diabetes, is puzzling because people with type 2 diabetes often appear to have normal, healthy bones compared to people of the same age without diabetes.

Bone micro-structure, which is not assessed by traditional bone densitometry systems (ie: DXA) contributes to overall bone strength.

The hypothesis of this study is that bone micro-structure is of poorer quality (reduced trabecular thickness, increased trabecular spacing) in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes, compared to age-matched control participants.