Smoking and drinking can increase your risk of bone fractures

Sadly, females are more prone to bone fracture. More their age, the higher their chances of broken bones. And smoking and drinking only take this number higher up.

Calcium deficiency is not ideal for your bones and health. Image courtesy: Shutterstock

ANI Published: 20 Feb 2021, 10:30 am IST

A new study has identified various factors that may indicate whether a person faces a higher likelihood of experiencing a bone fracture over the next two decades.

The study, published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, included 30,446 middle-aged women and men who were followed from the early/mid 1990s to 2016. A total of 8,240 participants (27 per cent) had at least one fracture during a median follow-up of 20.7 years.

Older age, female sex, higher body mass index, a previous fracture, a family history of fracture after the age of 50 years, low leisure-time physical activity, heavy work, living alone, smoking, and no or high alcohol consumption were factors independently associated with a greater likelihood of experiencing a fracture.

“Our results emphasize the importance of these factors in public health initiatives for fracture prevention,” the authors wrote.