Preterm birth and risk of bone fractures during childhood and early adulthood
Main finding · Fracture, not stratified by sexResult — go to the resultAdjusted hazard ratio 0.46 95% CI 0.28–0.74Authors' conclusion
Children and young adults, in particular males, born extremely or very preterm may have fewer bone fractures; this is partly explained by severe medical conditions in this group.
Study context
- Population
- All liveborn singletons in Finland, January 1987-September 1990; 9161 (4.1%) preterm9,161 preterm
- Participants
- 223,615 singletons
- Exposure
- Preterm birth categories vs full-term birth
- Outcome
- Fracture diagnosis in public specialty health care
- Follow-up
- 0-29 years
Methodological detailsCox regression
- Cox regression
Main finding
Fracture, not stratified by sex
Adjusted hazard ratio
0.46
95% CI 0.28–0.74
Extremely pretermvs Full-term
aHR 0.46 (95% CI 0.28–0.74)
As reported in the abstract
- At least 1 fracture, whole cohort
- 39 223 (17.5%)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | aHR | |
|---|---|---|
| Fracture, males · 0-29 yearsExtremely pretermvs Full-termLower risk | 0.38 (95% CI 0.21–0.71) | |
| Fracture, males · 0-29 yearsVery pretermvs Full-termLower risk | 0.75 (95% CI 0.59–0.95) | |
| Fracture, by sex · 10-29 yearsModerately pretermvs Full-termFemales; lower risk | 0.63 (CI 0.43–0.94) | |
| Fracture, by sex · 10-29 yearsExtremely pretermvs Full-termMales; lower risk | 0.35 (CI 0.17–0.69) | |
| Fracture, by sex · 10-29 yearsVery pretermvs Full-termMales; lower risk | 0.74 (CI 0.57–0.95) | |
| 0.10.31310Adjusted hazard ratio (log scale) |
- Fracture, by sex — Late-preterm birth: higher risk among females at 0-5 years
- 1.6-fold
- Fracture, by sex — Late-preterm birth: higher risk among males at 5-10 years
- 1.4-fold
Fracture, females · 0-29 years
- Gestational age was unrelated to fracture risk
Sensitivity analysis excluding severe medical condition(s)
- Restriction to individuals without severe medical condition(s) attenuated the associations
Recurrent fractures
- Similar pattern
Original publication
Preterm birth and risk of bone fractures during childhood and early adulthood. J Bone Miner Res. Published 23 January 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →