Slow Growth in Childhood May Lead to Hip Fracture Later

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Slow Growth in Childhood May Lead to Hip Fracture Later in Life

MedscapeWire October 31, 2000

http://pediatrics.medscape.com/MedscapeWire/2000/1000/medwire.1031.slow.html

An abnormally slow rate of growth during childhood may mean a greater

chance of a hip fracture decades later, according to research presented

at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Researchers studied 7000 men and women born in Helsinki between 1924 and

1933. Detailed birth and child welfare records providing height and

weight data from age 7 to 16 years were matched with hospital records

from between 1971 and 1997. Study subjects who had a childhood growth

rate more than 1 standard deviation below average had more than 4 times

the risk of future hip fracture.

" This study provides the first direct evidence that poor childhood

growth is a strong risk factor for later hip fracture, " said lead

investigator Prof. Cyrus , MA, DM, of the University of

Southampton in the United Kingdom. " Measures to enhance healthy

childhood growth should be incorporated into preventive strategies

against osteoporotic fracture in future generations. "