Alcohol intake, specific alcoholic beverages, and risk of hip fractures in postmenopausal women and men age 50 and older

Background: Although a number of studies have examined the association between alcohol intake and hip fractures, few have considered specific alcoholic beverages separately.

Objectives: We prospectively assessed total alcohol and specific alcoholic beverage consumption and risk of hip fractures in US men and women.

Methods: Health, lifestyle information, and hip fractures were self-reported on biennial questionnaires between 1980 and 2014 in 75,180 postmenopausal women from the Nurses' Health Study, and between 1986 and 2014 in 38,398 men aged ≥50 y from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Diet was assessed approximately every 4 y with a semiquantitative FFQ. RRs were computed for hip fracture using Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for potential confounders.

Results: We ascertained 2360 incident low trauma hip fractures in women and 709 in men. Among women, RRs for low trauma hip fractures compared with nondrinkers were 0.89 (95% CI: 0.80, 0.99) for an average daily consumption of <5.0 g, 0.81 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.94) for 5.0 to <10.0 g, 0.83 (95% CI: 0.71, 0.96) for 10.0 to <20.0 g, and 0.93 (95% CI: 0.78, 1.10) for ≥20.0 g. Among men, risk declined linearly with higher alcohol consumption (P-trend = 0.002). Multivariable RR compared with nondrinkers was 0.77 (95% CI: 0.59, 1.01), 0.69 (0.49, 0.96), and 0.67 (0.48, 0.95) for an average intake of 10 g/d to <20 g/d, 20 g/d to <30 g/d, and 30.0 g/d or more, respectively. In women, the alcoholic beverage most significantly associated with hip fracture risk was red wine (RR per serving = 0.59; 95% CI: 0.45, 0.79). In men, there was no clear association with specific alcoholic beverages.

Conclusion: In these 2 US cohorts, low to moderate alcohol consumption, when compared with no consumption, was associated with a lower risk of hip fractures, particularly with red wine consumption among women.