A history of gout is associated with a modestly increased risk of hip fracture, but not significantly associated with risk of wrist fracture, in women, a recent study found. Researchers conducted a prospective observational study of gout and risk of incident wrist and hip fracture in women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study (n=103,799 at baseline with 14 years of follow-up for the wrist fracture analysis and 22 years of follow-up for the hip fracture analysis). They found:

• There were 3,769 incident wrist fractures (1990 to 2004) with 2,147 incident hip fractures (1990 to 2012), with 107 wrist and 117 hip fractures among participants with gout.

• The multivariable-adjusted relative risk of wrist fracture in women with a history of gout compared with women without gout was 1.12.

• The multivariable-adjusted relative risk of hip fracture in women with a history of gout compared with women without gout was 1.38.