| Risk factor | LoE* | Sample size | RR/OR (95% CI) | Reference |
| Female gender | Ib | 14 studies | 1.23 (1.11 to 1.34) | Rovetta et al 22 |
| Age, >40 | IIb | 194 | 3.68 (2.66 to 5.09) | Altman et al 8 |
| Family history, 1st degree etc | Ib | 3 studies (n = 4183) | 2.57 (1.86 to 3.55) | Altman et al,8 Marcelli et al,41 Schneider et al 42 |
| Obesity: | ||||
| Relative weight index, per 20% increase | IIa | 1276 | 1.69 (1.27 to 2.18) | Spector and MacGregor46 |
| BMI, >29 vs ⩽24 | IIb | 78 | 8.3 (1.2 to 56.5) | Carman et al 49 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | IIb | 82 pairs | 1.30 (1.06 to 1.59) | Zhang and Doherty47 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | IIb | 573 women | 1.03 (0.96 to 1.11) | Hochberg et al 40 |
| BMD, dg/cm2 | IIb | 573 women | 1.11 (0.61 to 2.02) kl⩾2 | Hochberg et al 40 |
| 1.61 (1.27 to 2.07) kl = 4 | ||||
| Grip strength, third tertile | IIa | 756 | 2.8 (1.2 to 6.7) | Cicutinni et al 50 |
| History of hand injury | IIb | 573 women | 3.64 (1.34 to 9.88) | Hochberg et al 40 |
*See table 2 for further description.
BMD, bone mineral density’ BMI, body mass index; LoE, level of evidence; OR, odds ratio; RR, relative risk.