The clinical significance of the high prevalence of osteopenia in inflammatory bowel disease is unclear. To determine whether persons with inflammatory bowel disease have increased incidence of fracture. Population-based matched cohort study. Manitoba, Canada. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease in the University of Manitoba IBD Database (n = 6027) were matched to 10 randomly selected persons in the general population without inflammatory bowel disease (n = 60 270) by year, age, sex, and postal area of residence. The incidence of hospitalization for hip fracture was determined on the basis of hospital discharge abstracts. Outpatient medical billing records and hospital discharge abstracts were used to calculate the incidence of spine, rib, and forearm fractures. Rates were calculated on the basis of person-years of follow-up for 1984 to 1997. Persons with inflammatory bowel disease had significantly increased incidence of fractures at the spine (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.74 [95% CI, 1.34 to 2.24]; P < 0.001), hip (IRR, 1.59 [CI, 1.27 to 2.00]; P < 0.001), wrist/forearm (IRR, 1.33 [CI, 1.11 to 1.58]; P = 0.001), and rib (IRR, 1.25 [CI, 1.02 to 1.52]; P = 0.03) and of any of these fractures (IRR, 1.41 [CI, 1.27 to 1.56]; P < 0.001). The incidence of fracture among persons with inflammatory bowel disease is 40% greater than that in the general population.