Association between walking and hip fracture in women aged 65 and older: 20-year follow-up from the study of osteoporotic fractures
Authors' conclusion
Walking for exercise is linked to a reduced risk of hip fractures in elderly women.
Study context
- Population
- Women aged 65 and older, Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF), USA, 1986–20061,419 hip fractures
- Participants
- 9,704 women
- Exposure
- Walking for exercise vs not walking for exercise
- Outcome
- Hip fracture
Methodological details20-year follow-up, Cox regression with time-varying covariates, Fine and Gray competing-risks models, penalized splines
- 20-year follow-up
- Cox regression with time-varying covariates
- Fine and Gray competing-risks models
- Penalized splines
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Walking for exercise
10.0
incidence rate · cases per 1000 person-years
Not walking for exercise
10.9
incidence rate · per 1000 py
Estimate (95% CI)P value
Walking for exercisevs Not walking for exercise
HR 0.864(0.762–0.980)
P = 0.0230Each additional block walked for exercise
HR per block 0.986(0.978–0.995)
P = 0.0022Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
All-cause mortality
Follow-up time for hip fracture or censoring (mean; median)
Median Walking for exercise 15.8 · Not walking for exercise 13.7
Hip fracture, walking for routine activities
- No significant association
Hip fracture, dose-response (spline analysis)
- Walking 16 blocks (≈3200 steps) daily significantly lowered hip fracture risk
Original publication
Association between walking and hip fracture in women aged 65 and older: 20-year follow-up from the study of osteoporotic fractures. Osteoporos Int. Published 7 May 2025. doi:10.
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