In this, the largest GWAS for osteoporosis traits to date, we identified 32 novel genomic loci bringing to 56 the number of loci robustly associated with BMD variation. Furthermore, we report for the first time that six of these BMD loci are associated with low-trauma fractures at P<5×10−8. As for other complex traits, our results indicate hundreds of variants with small effects may be contributing to the genetic architecture of BMD and fracture risk.20 Our hypothesis-free assessment of common variants of the genome provides novel insights into biology, implicating several factors clustering in bone-active pathways.
