London, Jan 6 (IANS): Breaking a major bone is likely to increase the risk of a widespread chronic body pain later in life, says a study.

Women experiencing a hip fracture are more than twice as likely to suffer a long-term widespread pain in the whole body than those without a fracture, the findings showed.

The risk is similar for men and women with a spine fracture, the study said.

"This is the first study to demonstrate an association with the past fracture. If confirmed in further studies, these findings might help us to reduce the burden of chronic pain following such fractures," said lead researcher Nicholas Harvey, professor at University of Southampton in Britain.

To investigate the associations between a past history of fracture affecting upper and lower limb, spine or hip and the presence of chronic widespread body pain, the researchers analysed data involving 500,000 adults between ages 40 and 69.

They found that the risk of chronic widespread body pain increased in the case where participants reported of having a past fracture, especially in the spine and the hip.

The study was published in the journal Archives of Osteoporosis.