The longer a patient with type 1 diabetes has the disease, and the higher their glycated haemoglobin levels over time, the more likely they are to have multiple fragility fractures, a study shows.

The Italian authors go on to suggest that patients with poor glycaemic control and long disease duration can be regarded as “a severe bone fragility phenotype” among people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

For the study, 600 patients with T1D being treated at three hospital outpatient departments in Rome were asked to fill in questionnaires detailing any fractures they had experienced since developing the disease.

Their average age was 42 years and they had had T1D for a mean duration of 20 years.