Arab adults in Israeli cohort had higher hip fracture risk
Among Israel’s Clalit health plan members aged 50–80 at entry, Arab participants had a 45% higher relative hip fracture risk than Jewish participants after adjustment.
Our read
Populations- Studied:
- Cohort study of older Clalit Health Services members, 2010 to 2019, against Jewish adults
- What changed:
- Hip fracture risk was 45% higher among Arab adults than Jewish adults after adjustment
- The catch:
- Bone mineral density and physical activity were unavailable, leaving potential confounding of ethnic differences
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Clalit Health Services members in Israel—941,534 adults aged 50–80 without a previous hip fracture—were included in a retrospective cohort study of records from 2010–2019. Women made up 53.4% of participants. The researchers used primary care clinic classifications as a stand-in for individual ethnicity.
Hip fracture rates were 3.08 per 1,000 person-years among Arab participants and 2.53 among Jewish participants. The authors described the unadjusted rates as comparable. After accounting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, smoking and existing illnesses, Arab participants had higher hip fracture risk than Jewish participants. The adjusted hazard ratio, a measure of relative risk over time, was 1.45. The association appeared in both men and women.
Why it matters
Hip fractures are a major burden in aging populations. The authors suggest that differences in underlying risk profiles, healthcare use or preventive care may contribute to inequities despite universal healthcare coverage.
Caveats
The authors note that differences in bone density, physical activity and body weight may still have influenced the comparison. Participants were aged 50–80 at entry, and follow-up was restricted to ages below 85.
From the paper
- Participants
The cohort included 941,534 individuals (84.7% Jewish; 53.4% women).
- Result
While crude incidence rates were comparable between groups, adjusted analyses showed that Arab individuals had a significantly higher risk of hip fracture compared with Jewish individuals (HR 1.45; 95% CI 1.38–1.52).
- Limitation
However, several limitations should be considered: First, there may be information bias regarding the definition of hip fracture.
Quoted word for word from the full text on link.springer.com.
The paper
Tel Aviv University
BMC Public Health, Aug 5, 2026, Open access
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