Schizophrenic patients may be more susceptible to bone fractures because of the mental illness and/or the effects of psychotropic drugs. However, these patients also suffer from other medical conditions which may further increase their risk. The objective of this study was to make a general assessment of previous bone fractures in schizophrenics seen in an Internist's office.

We questioned 115 consecutive patients with the primary diagnosis of schizophrenia, seen in an Internist's office, for a wide variety of medical problems. Of these seventy nine (68.7%) were males and thirty six (31.3%) were females. Their ages ranged from 19 to 81. They were all on psychotropic drugs and under the care of a psychiatrist.

Of the total number of 115 patients, fifty one (44%) gave a history of previous bone fractures. Thirty eight (33%) gave a history of single fractures and thirteen (11.3%) gave a history of multiple fractures. Twenty six (22.6%) involved fractures of the upper limbs and twenty three (20%) involved fractures of the lower limbs and eight (6.9%) involved fractures of both the upper and lower limbs. Thirteen (11.3%) had non-extremity fractures. Of these eight (61.5%) had only non-extremity fractures and five (38.5%) had non-extremity fractures in addition to extremity fractures.

We found a significantly high prevalence of previous bone fractures in this schizophrenic population. Further study is necessary to elucidate whether this elevated risk is due to the mental illness, the use of psychotropic drugs, both, or some other associated etiology.