Married people are less likely to break bones in their old age

New European research has found an association between being married and earning more money, and a lower risk of broken bones as we age.

Led by the University of Southampton, UK, along with researchers from the University of Oxford, the University of Bristol, and Aalborg University and the University of Southern Denmark, the study set out to investigate whether socioeconomic status, as measured by income and marital status, affected the risk of those over 50 suffering a hip, humerus, or wrist fracture.

Using information from Danish health registries the team gathered data from 189 838 patients who had broken bones and compared it to data from another 189 838 patients who were matched by age and sex but who had not experienced a broken bone.

Data included the patients’ marital status; either married, divorced, widowed, or unmarried; their area of residence, defined as remote, rural, intermediate, or urban; and their income.

The team also took into account smoking status and alcohol intake.

Picture: Shutterstock

The results showed that patients who earned a higher income, falling in the 5th quintile of earnings, were significantly less likely to experience any of the three fractures than those who earned an average income, and fell into the 3rd quintile of earnings.

In addition, married subjects also had a significantly lower risk across all three fractures compared to those who were single.

Lead author Professor Nicholas Harvey commented on the findings, saying: “There are over 500 000 broken bones due to osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) annually in the UK at a cost of £4.4 billion and with an immense impact on health and survival.

“We don’t know for certain how being married protects against fracture, but studies show that marriage is protective against a range of adverse health outcomes, possibly through various factors related to physical and mental health, security and economic status,” he added.

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