Reduced cancer morbidity and mortality in a prospective cohort of women with distal forearm fractures.

At the Department of Orthopedics of University Hospital, Lund, Sweden, cancer incidence and overall and cause-specific mortality were studied in a prospective cohort of 677 women who had experienced a fracture of the distal forearm in 1974 or 1975. The women were followed through population-based population, cancer, and death registries in southern Sweden. There was a significant reduction in overall cancer incidence (66 cases observed vs. 90.21 expected), breast cancer incidence (11 cases observed vs. 20.31 cases expected), and incidence of tumors of the female genital tract (5 cases observed vs. 11.84 expected). Overall mortality was also reduced (146 cases observed vs. 191.69 cases expected), and rates of death from circulatory disease (79 cases observed vs. 111.49 expected) and malignant tumors (30 cases observed vs. 40.41 expected) were both lower than expected.