title: Relationship of Height to Site-Specific Fracture Risk in Postmenopausal Women.
abstract: Height has been associated with increased risk of fracture of the neck of femur. However, information on the association of height with fractures at other sites is limited and conflicting. A total of 796,081 postmenopausal women, who reported on health and lifestyle factors including a history of previous fractures and osteoporosis, were followed for 8 years for incident fracture at various sites by record linkage to National Health Service hospital admission data. Adjusted relative risks of fracture at different sites per 10-cm increase in height were estimated using Cox regression. Numbers with site-specific fractures were: humerus (3036 cases), radius and/or ulna (1775), wrist (9684), neck of femur (5734), femur (not neck) (713), patella (649), tibia and/or fibula (1811), ankle (5523), and clavicle/spine/rib (2174). The risk of fracture of the neck of femur increased with increasing height (relative risk [RR] = 1.48 per 10-cm increase, 99% confidence interval [CI] 1.39-1.57) and the proportional increase in risk was significantly greater than for all other fracture sites (pheterogeneity < 0.001). For the other sites, fracture risk also increased with height (RR = 1.15 per 10 cm, CI 1.12-1.18), but there was only very weak evidence of a possible difference in risk between the sites (pheterogeneity = 0.03). In conclusion, taller women are at increased risk of fracture, especially of the neck of femur.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Miranda Eg
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Oksana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kirichek
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Benjamin J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Cairns
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Gillian K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Reeves
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001827:Body Height; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D012307:Risk Factors; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: FRACTURE; HEIGHT; MILLION WOMEN STUDY; POSTMENOPAUSAL; PROSPECTIVE STUDIES