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Yong Loo Lin
School of Medicine

Local hip fracture rates on the decline

Published: 22 Oct 2019

newsinfomain hip fracture

Professor Yong Eu Leong from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology shares his research findings on the incidence rate of hip fractures among Singaporeans.

The study showed a fall in the incidence rate of hip fractures in Singaporeans by 1.4% from the years 2000 to 2017 – a reversal of trends from a previous study that reported an increase in the rate of around 1% to 1.5% a year for both sexes from 1991 to 1998. This was attributed to three main factors – people having greater awareness of the risks and taking preventive measures, a secondary fracture prevention programme that started in public hospitals in 2008, and greater availability of osteoporosis medication.

The research also uncovered differences in incidence rates across ethnicities – Chinese women had fracture rates 1.4 times higher than their Malay counterparts, and 1.9 times higher than Indian women. Prof Leong commented that this was likely because Chinese have very low bone mineral density and therefore have higher fracture rates.

As hip fractures affect disproportionately more women than men due to the abrupt estrogen decline after menopause, the researchers did not look into whether there were ethnic differences for hip fracture rates among men.

“One of the ways to prevent hip fracture is to prevent falls. Older people should be encouraged to exercise to maintain core body strength, so if they slip, they can rebalance themselves,” said Prof Yong.

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