Obesity and diabetes: Implications for bone health

It is well established that the ever-increasing global burden of obesity and diabetes is associated with various acute and chronic comorbidities, and recent studies suggest that obesity and diabetes may also be a risk factor for fracture. At the National Osteoporosis Foundation of South Africa (NOFSA) annual congress hosted in Cape Town during November 2025, Professor Nicholas Harvey provided an overview of the complex associations between obesity, diabetes and bone health that have emerged from several recent meta-analyses and their implications for clinical practice.

You will learn about:

• The global burden of obesity and diabetes
• The associations between diabetes, obesity and fracture risk
• The role of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists in the management of diabetes and obesity, and clinical evidence on the impact of weight loss on bone health.

Prof Nicholas Harvey
Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton and Director of the University’s MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre

He is President of the International Osteoporosis Foundation; a Board Member of the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases; a former Trustee of the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS); and was inaugural Vice-Chair of the ROS Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy. He is a Fellow of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). He has won many national/international prizes, most recently the International Osteoporosis Foundation Olof Johnell Science Award. He has published over 450 articles, has accrued>£50m grant funding and is a member of many national/ international committees, including as Musculoskeletal Lead for the UK Biobank Imaging Study; Chair of the UK Biobank Frailty and Ageing Working Group; a member of the UK National Osteoporosis Guideline Group Advisory Committee; a past member of the ASBMR Professional Practice Committee; and clinical co-chair of the 2021 ASBMR Annual Meeting.