Ethnicity, socioeconomic status and place of residence influence risk of experiencing a fracture

Ethnicity, socioeconomic status and place of residence in the UK all influence the risk of breaking a bone, a new Southampton study has shown.

Researchers at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, undertook an analysis of the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink database and calculated the risk of an individual experiencing a fracture. They also examined whether this risk varied according to age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and place of residence in the UK.

They found there were marked differences in fracture rates according to where individuals lived, with the highest fracture rates in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where rates were around 50 per cent greater than those in London.

In men, fracture rates were noticeably greater in areas of socioeconomic deprivation, possibly reflecting greater exposure to trauma through manual work, together with potentially greater rates of smoking and other adverse lifestyle factors, the researchers say.

They also found that white men and women had substantially greater fracture rates than Asian individuals. Black people had the lowest fracture rates - under half the rates in white individuals.

Overall fracture rate was higher for women over the age of 50 years old (155 per 10,000 persons per year compared to men over the age of 50 (72 per 10,000 persons per year).