Table 3.

Direction and strength of associations between selected characteristics and fractures of the hip, distal forearm, spine, proximal humerus, and foot in women 65 years of age and older

Characteristic	Fracture site
	Hip	Distal forearm	Vertebrae	Proximal humerus	Foot
Increasing age	Steep increase	No increase	Moderate-steep increase	Steep increase	No increase
Low bone mineral density	Strong	Strong	Strong	Strong	Weak
Percentage of fractures attributable to a fall	> 90%	> 90%	25% to 60%	> 90%	60%
Frailty	Strongly positive	Negative	Uncertain	Moderately positive	No association
Most frequent direction(s) or mechanism of fall	Straight down or lateral, landing on hip	Backwards or obliquely forward, putting out hand to break fall	Uncertain	Forward, sideways, or landing on shoulder	Hitting the foot or misstepping