Study sheds light on problems with fracture healing in people with Down syndrome

A new study from Texas A&M University's School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) provides the first direct experimental evidence that people with Down syndrome (DS) may not recover from fracture.

The recently published study, led by Kirby Sherman, a doctoral student in the VMBS Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology (VTPP), not only illuminates a previously unknown problem, but also highlights the need for physicians to better address fracture healing in patients with D.

Degenerative spondylolisthesis, the most common birth defect in the United States, alters human development and causes a variety of clinical problems, including intellectual disability, joint laxity, heart defects, sleep apnea, and infertilit.

Previous studies have also shown that patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis have lower bone mineral density, which increases the likelihood of fracture.

"Scientists have studied fractures in many different species for a long time, and while healing may be slow in some cases, in all species the vast majority of fractures eventually heal," Sherman sai.

"As the bone heals, a soft callus made of cartilage (a glue) forms on the bone and then connects the broken ends; we call this a bridg.

This is worrying, the researchers assert, because fractures that do not fully heal can have devastating health effects, which are exacerbated in patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis due to a marked decrease in bone densit.

"Based on this, fracture risk is a major health concern for people with Down syndrome," Sherman sai.

"Fractures that don't heal properly, what we call nonunion, can kill people, whether they have Down syndrome or not," said Dr Larry Suva, head of the VTPP uni.

According to Suva and Sherman, there are two main reasons why this problem remains undiscovered; the first is that people with degenerative spondylolisthesis live longer than they used t.

In 1960, people with degenerative dementia had a life expectancy of just 10 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.

"We already know that this group has lower bone mass, and this group's increased life expectancy has allowed researchers to better understand the long-term effects of their lower bone mass," Suva sai.

The second reason is that physicians and hospitals do not take into account specialized treatments for people with degenerative dementia, meaning there are no readily available data to determine the proble.

"There is currently no established medical code for people with Down syndrome, so researchers don't have any type of database to collect statistics to support this type of research," Suva sai.

"As a result, even though fractures are recorded on a daily basis in the United States, there is no way to identify which patients have Down syndrome, and therefore no organized way to track their healing," Suva sai.

The next steps in the research will include trying to find human data, focusing on the actual mechanisms that prevent fracture healin.

At the same time, with new understanding of the problem, researchers hope that there will be broader measures to increase bone strength, more careful monitoring when fractures occur, and that doctors and others will consider degenerative spondylolisthesis bone health of patient.

"We want doctors to say to patients, 'You're only 17; you can keep playing football and stay active,'" Suva sai.
"But we also want them to make sure that these patients' diets and vitamin D levels are good, doing all of these recommended bone health thing.
That's our goa.
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