A number of factors that have been identified as risk factors for falls are also associated with hip fracture, including lower-limb dysfunction, neurologic conditions, barbiturate use, and visual impairment. Given the prevalence of these problems among the elderly, who are at highest risk, programs to prevent hip fracture should include measures to prevent falls in addition to measures to slow bone loss.

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The relationship between parity, lactation and the occurrence of hip fracture was investigated in a case-control study of white women. The cases were patients (n = 174) aged 45 years and over with a radiologically confirmed first hip fracture sampled from among admissions to 30 hospitals in New York and Philadelphia between September 1987 and July 1989. Controls (n = 174) were selected from general surgical and orthopedic services during the same time period and were frequency-matched to cases by age and hospital. Ever having a live birth was associated with reduced odds of hip fracture, controlling for age and hospital of recruitment (odds ratio = 0.65; 95% confidence interval = 0.41-1.04). When body mass index was also controlled, each birth was associated on average with a 9% reduction in the odds of hip fracture (odds ratio = 0.92 [0.78-1.08]), although the trend was not statistically significant. After adjusting for number of births, lactation was not associated with hip fracture (adjusted odds ratio for 12 months of lactation or less = 0.80 [0.42-1.55]; adjusted odds ratio for more than 12 months = 1.08 [0.45-2.60]).

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