Need Help?

Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF)

The Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF) is a prospective multicenter study of risk factors for vertebral and non vertebral fractures. The cohort is comprised of 9704 community-dwelling women 65 years old or older recruited from populations-based listings in four U.S. areas: Baltimore, Maryland; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; and the Monongahela Valley, Pennsylvania. Women enrolled in the study were 99% Caucasian with African American women initially excluded from the study due to their low incidence of hip fractures. (A cohort of AA women was recruited at the 6th Visit.)

The SOF participants were followed up every four months by postcard or telephone to ascertain the occurrence of falls, fractures and changes in address. To date, follow-up rates have exceeded 95% for vital status and fractures. All fractures are validated by x-ray reports or in the case of most hip fractures, a review of pre-operative radiographs.

Blood samples were collected in 6795 women at their Year 2 exam (Visit 2) and with written consent for use of DNA in genetic studies. Of these, we have GWAS data on 3625 Caucasian participants.

As a separate study, the SOF Osteoarthritis Project was funded separately to collect data about risk factors for osteoarthritis (OA) and analyze baseline hip and hand films for the presence and severity of OA.

Raw GWAS data is housed at the study's coordinating center and not released as part of the dbGaP release. The raw data can be requested from the study's coordinating center. Only QC cleaned PLINK files are available at dbGaP. Auxiliary files are also available for duplicates and HapMap participants.