INEB RECENT PUBLICATIONS: The interactions between municipal socioeconomic status and age on hip fracture risk

INEB researchers recently published an article in the scientific journal Osteoporotic International, available since October 2014. The article is entitled "The interactions between municipal socioeconomic status and age on hip fracture risk" and is authored by C. M. Oliveira, T. Economou, T. Bailey, D. Mendonça and M. F. Pina.

^{Fátima Pina and Carla Oliveira.} 

Considering that the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on hip fracture (HF) incidence remains unclear, the objective of this study was to evaluate the association between HF incidence and municipality-level SES as well as interactions between age and SES.

This area level study suggests a general pattern; the more deprived municipalities presented a higher risk of hip fracture, and an interaction between age group and socioeconomic status of the municipality of residence in the risk of hip fracture. The association between hip fracture incidence and socioeconomic status was inverse in younger ages (lower risk in more affluent areas) and direct in older ages (higher risk in more affluent areas). These results may help decision-makers to better understand the epidemiology of hip fractures and better direct the implementation of political decisions.