The incidence of hip fracture decreased from 1970 to 2010, with reductions in smoking and heavy drinking coincident with this decrease, according to a study published online July 27 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Jay Swayambunathan, from the U.S. National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues conducted a population-based cohort study involving 4,918 men and 5,634 women who were followed prospectively for first hip fracture from Jan. 1, 1970, to Dec. 31, 2010. Data were included from more than 105,000 person-years in 10,552 individuals; in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a shift toward offspring participants.
The researchers found that from 1970 to 2010, the incidence of hip fracture decreased by 4.4 percent per year after adjustment for age. The associations for period and birth cohort were statistically significant. There was coincidence between decrease in hip fracture incidence and a decrease in smoking and heavy drinking. From the 1970s to the late 2000s, smoking decreased from 38 to 15 percent and heavy drinking decreased from 7 to 4.5 percent. During the study period, the prevalence of other risk factors for hip fracture, such as underweight, obesity, and early menopause, were stable.
Swayambunathan J, Dasgupta A, Rosenberg PS, Hannan MT, Kiel DP, Bhattacharyya T. Incidence of Hip Fracture Over 4 Decades in the Framingham Heart Study [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jul 27]. JAMA Intern Med.
