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. 2025 Nov 26;20(1):145.
doi: 10.1007/s11657-025-01631-3.

Epidemiology of hip fracture in Iraq and development of a country-specific FRAX model

Ahmed Abdulbari  1 , Nizar A Jassim  2 , Yasir H Motlaq  3 , Hassan A Ismael  4 , Waleed Arif Tawfeeq Al Ani  5 , Chra Kawa M Nafai  6 , Ali Abdulrahman Younis  7 , Taha Ahmed Qaradaghi  8 , Farah Jaafar Mahdi  9 , Abbas Mahdi Rahmah  10 , Alaa Hussein Alameri  11 , Fareed Alsudany  12 , Zaid W Al-Shahwani  13 , Tariq Jassim Mohammed  14 , Mohannad Khalil Ahmed AbuKhumrah  14 , Adra Abdul Ruda Kadum  15 , Asal Adnan  16 , Marwan Z Yahya  17 , Nicholas C Harvey  18 , Mattias Lorentzon  19 , Eugene McCloskey  20 , John A Kanis  21 , Helena Johansson  19
Affiliations

Epidemiology of hip fracture in Iraq and development of a country-specific FRAX model

Ahmed Abdulbari et al. Arch Osteoporos. .

Abstract

Hip fracture data were retrieved from the Iraqi government's Ministry of Health and the Kurdistan region's Ministry of Health for the years 2022-2023 and used to create a FRAX® model to facilitate fracture risk assessment. Hip fracture rates and probabilities were compared with estimates from neighboring countries.

Introduction: There are no published data on the epidemiology of osteoporotic fractures in Iraq. This paper describes the epidemiology of femoral fractures in Iraq and the development of the corresponding country-specific FRAX® tool for the prediction of fractures.

Methods: Femoral fracture data (ICD-10 S72) were retrieved from the Iraqi government's Ministry of Health and the Kurdistan region's Ministry of Health for the years 2022-2023 in Iraq. The age- and sex-specific incidence of hip fracture in Iraqi residents and national mortality rates were used to create a FRAX® model. Fracture probabilities were compared with those from neighboring countries having existing FRAX models.

Results: Fracture rates were low and comparable to those in neighboring countries, with hip fracture rates closest to estimates from Saudi Arabia at older ages. Ten-year fracture probabilities were lower in males than in females and were comparable to those in neighboring countries.

Conclusion: The FRAX model should enhance the accuracy of determining fracture probability among the Iraqi population and help guide treatment decisions.

Keywords: Epidemiology; FRAX; Fracture probability; Hip fracture; Iraq.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval: Only summary statistics and aggregate data are published, not allowing for the identification of individual study participants. Human and animal rights: This study does not contain any original studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Competing interests: Ahmed Abdulbari, Nizar A.Jassim, Yasir H.Motlaq, Hassan A. Ismael, Waleed Arif Tawfeeq Al Ani, Chra Kawa M.Nafai, Ali Abdulrahman Younis, Taha Ahmed Qaradaghi, Farah Jaafar Mahdi, Abbas Mahdi Rahmah, Alaa Hussein Alameri, Fareed Alsudany, Zaid W Al-Shahwani, Tariq Jassim Mohammed, Mohannad Khalil Ahmed Abu Khumrah, Adra Abdul Ruda Kadum, Asal Adnan, Marwan Z Yahya, Nicholas C Harvey, Mattias Lorentzon, and Helena Johansson declare that they have no conflict of interest concerning this paper. E McCloskey and JA Kanis are directors of Osteoporosis Research Ltd, which maintains FRAX.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Ten-year probabilities of hip fracture (HF) and major osteoporotic fracture by age in Iraqi males and females
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Annual incidence of femoral fracture (Iraq) and hip fracture in males (left-hand panel) and females (right panel) by age from Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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