Alcohol consumption and hip fracture risk

Title
Alcohol consumption and hip fracture risk
Publication type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2014
Journal
Osteoporosis International
Volume
26
Issue
2
Pagination
531 - 542
Date published
2014
ISBN
0937941X (ISSN)
Abstract
Conclusions: There was no evidence of publication bias. In conclusion, a nonlinear association between alcohol consumption and the risk of hip fracture was observed in this meta-analysis. Further, light alcohol consumption was inversely significantly associated with hip fracture risk, whereas heavy alcohol consumption was associated with an elevated hip fracture risk.Introduction: Previous studies examining the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of hip fracture have reported conflicting findings. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to assess the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of hip fracture. Summary: The present meta-analysis shows that a nonlinear association between alcohol consumption and the risk of hip fracture was observed. Light alcohol consumption was inversely significantly associated with hip fracture risk, whereas heavy alcohol consumption was associated with an elevated hip fracture risk. Methods: PubMed and EMBASE were searched for prospective cohort studies on the relationship between alcohol consumption and the risk of hip fractures. Relative risks (RR) with 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were derived using random-effects models throughout the whole analysis. Results: Eighteen prospective cohort studies were included with 3,730,424 participants and 26,168 hip fracture cases. Compared with non-drinkers, the pooled RR of hip fractures for alcohol consumption was 1.03 (95 % CI, 0.91–1.15), with high heterogeneity between studies (P < 0.001, I2 = 72.6 %). A nonlinear relationship between alcohol consumption and the risk of hip fracture was identified (Pnonlinearity = 0.003). Compared with non-drinkers, the pooled RRs of hip fractures were 0.88 (95 % CI, 0.83–0.89) for light alcohol consumption (0.01–12.5 g/day), 1.00 (95 % CI, 0.85–1.14) for moderate alcohol consumption (12.6–49.9 g/day), and 1.71 (95 % CI, 1.41–2.01) for heavy alcohol consumption (≥50 g/day).