BODY HEIGHT AND HIP FRACTURE - A COHORT STUDY OF 90000 WOMEN

Background. Hip fractures are a major public health problem. Recent st udies have noted a connection between body height and hip fracture. Me thods. We investigated the relationship between body height and hip fr acture using a prospective cohort of over 92 000 American, predominant ly white, female nurses who were followed for 10 years, from June 1980 to June 1990. The women, participants in the Nurses Health Study, wer e aged 35-59 in 1980. Results. Women 5'8'' or taller were more than tw ice as likely as women under 5'2'' to sustain a hip fracture, after ac counting for age, body mass index, cigarette smoking and alcohol consu mption (multivariate relative risk 2.40, 95% confidence interval : 1.4 3-4.02; P for trend < 0.0001). Conclusion. Height appears to be an imp ortant independent risk factor for hip fracture among American women. Height should be included as a confounder in studies of hip fracture, and taller, elderly women should be advised to consider preventive mea sures.