Does inadequate diet during childhood explain the higher high fracture rates in the Southern United States?
CONCLUSIONS
Southern states have the highest age-adjusted hip fracture rates among older adults in the United States. Regional hip fracture rates in the United States in 1986-1993 correlate with death rates from rickets in the 1940s. Historical patterns of bone nutrition early in life might explain contemporary geographic patterns in bone fragility.


BACKGROUND
State of residence early in life is a better predictor of the risk of hip fracture after age 65 than state of current residence. Therefore, the geography of rickets mortality in the United States before 1950 was compared with the geography of hip fracture rates among older adults in the United States during 1986-1993.


METHODS
Vital statistics data for the US white population for 1942-1948 allowed calculation of the ratio of deaths from rickets to live births for each geographic division of the USA. These ratios were correlated with previously published, standardized hip fracture rates among whites 65-89 years old during 1986-1993 by census division.


RESULTS
During 1942-1948, the rickets mortality ratio among whites was 3.11 in the South, 1.91 in the Northeast, 1.75 in the Midwest, and 1.04 in the West. The correlation of mortality with risk of hip fracture was 0.71 (p = 0.03) for both sexes combined and 0.86 (p = 0.01) for women.


CONCLUSIONS
Inadequate nutrition during skeletal formation early in life might explain the higher incidence of hip fracture among older adults in the South.
Paulozzi
L J
LJ
Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE, MS-F62, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, USA. lbp4@cdc.gov
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012279:Rickets / Q000266:history / Q000401:mortality; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology