Vegetarian and Vegan Diets and the Risk of Hip Fracture in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Raquel Simões Ballarin, Taline Lazzarin, Marcos Ferreira Minicucci et al.
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In 30 seconds
This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed hip-fracture risk in adults following vegetarian or vegan diets compared with meat-eaters. Four cohort studies involving 529 672 participants were included. After adjustment for confounders, vegetarian diets were associated with a 25% higher risk of hip fracture (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.11-1.39), while vegan diets were associated with a 75% higher risk (HR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.17-2.63). The evidence was rated low certainty for vegetarians and very low certainty for vegans.
Key findings
- Vegetarians had higher hip-fracture risk than meat-eaters (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.11-1.39; low certainty).
- Vegans had higher hip-fracture risk than meat-eaters (HR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.17-2.63; very low certainty).
- The review included four cohort studies with 529 672 participants.
Why it matters
Hip fracture is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, and these pooled observational findings suggest that dietary pattern may be relevant to bone-health assessment. The low and very low certainty ratings, particularly for vegan diets, mean the estimates should be interpreted cautiously; they do not establish that these diets cause fractures.
What to keep in mind
The evidence came from only four cohort studies and was observational. Certainty was low for vegetarians and very low for vegans; heterogeneity for the vegan estimate was I2 =64%.