[Review of epidemiology of fractures in the Icelandic Heart Association cohort].

IIn recent years, scientific papers have been published in Osteoporosis International on the epidemiology of fractures in Iceland based on the Icelandic Heart Association cohort. We report the main results with emphasis on the major osteoporotic fractures (MOF), distal forearm, upper arm, clinical vertebral and hip. Those four types of fractures have been reported to cause about 90% of the total burden of all osteoporotic fractures. The incidence of those four fractures in the Icelandic Heart Association cohort have been used as the basis for the international fracture risk calculator "FRAX "in Iceland. "FRAX" assesses the risk of those fractures for the next 10 years in both sexes in the age group 40-90 years. FRAX Iceland was opened on the internet in the year 2013. We emphasize the importance of previous fracture history as almost 40% of all major osteoporotic fractures occur after first MOF according to our cohort. The results demonstrate the importance of time from the first fracture as the risk of the second fracture is greater in the first two years although increased risk remains during the next 20 years. This indicates the importance of secondary prevention early after the first fracture especially amongst elderly people. These results give a good overall view about the epidemiology of fractures in Iceland in comparison with foreign studies and shows that age standardized incidence of the most important osteoporotic fracture, the hip fracture, reached a maximum around the millennium but has decreased among women until 2008 similar to what has been observed in Sweden and Denmark.