Bunions – are you at risk? New study identifies who is most likely to be affected

Bunions – bony deformities of the joints at the base of the big toe – can be extremely painful. We know that they are more common in women, perhaps because of footwear, and they are rare in populations of people who don’t wear shoes. Now a large study published in Arthritis Care and Research has identified who is most at risk, and top of the list are African-American women.
Experts examined 1,502 people for evidence of bunions (average age 68 years); 68% were women and 30% were African American. They looked at the effect of age, body mass index, foot pain, loss of the arch of the foot, knee and hip osteoarthritis.
Altogether, 64% of the study participants had bunions. Breaking the data into race-gender subgroups, the data shows that those most at risk were:
• African-American women (70%)
• African-American men (69%)
• Caucasian women (65%)
• Caucasian men (54%)
But other risk factors included being of older age, knee/hip osteoarthritis and loss of the arch of the foot.
“Early prevention and intervention approaches may be needed in high-risk groups,” the research team says. “Genetics and improper shoe wear should be explored as risk factors for hallux valgus among those with normal body weight. [Bunions] may represent a tendency for bone formation in certain adults or may occur with or as a result of osteoarthritis of the first metatarsophalangeal joint and would likely be associated with osteoarthritis at other joint sites.”

Click here to read the original research.

Image credit: Andrea Allen

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