Osteoporosis facts & figures

  • Almost three million people in the UK are estimated to have osteoporosis (1)
  • Over 60,000 hip, 50,000 wrist and 120,000 vertebral fractures occur each year in the UK (2,3,4)
  • Every month, 1,150 people die in the UK as a result of hip fractures (5)
  • The combined cost of hospital and social care for patients with a hip fracture amounts to more than £2.3bn per year in the UK – or £6m a day (6)
  • The lifetime risk of fracture in women at age 50 years is greater than the risk of breast cancer or cardiovascular disease (7)

Infolinks:

References:

  1. Calculated using mid-2007 population data from UK National Statistics and osteoporosis incidence from Kanis, Johnell & Oden et al | Risk of hip fracture according to the World Health Organization criteria for osteopenia and osteoporosis | Bone (2000); 27; pp 585-590
  2. van Staa, Dennison & Leufkens et al | Epidemiology of fractures in England and Wales | Bone (2001) 29; pp 517-522
  3. Keene, Parker & Pryor | Mortality and morbidity after hip fractures | British Medical Journal (1993) 307: pp 1248-1250
  4. Felsenberg et al | Incidence of vertebral fracture in Europe: results from the European Prospective Osteoporosis Study (EPOS) | Journal of Bone Mineralisation Res (2002) 17: pp 716-724
  5. Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust | National Falls Awareness Day | Accessed Jun 2009 | Published Jun 2009
  6. Figures in Torgerson, Iglesias & Reid | The economics of fracture prevention from The Effective Management of Osteoporosis (2001) | Edited by Barlow, Francis & Miles | pp 111-121’ updated using mid-2007 population data from UK National Statistics and the Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) pay and price inflation 06-07
  7. WHO Study Group (1994) | Assessment of fracture risk and its application to screening for post menopausal osteoporosis | WHO Technical Report Series (843): pp 1-129

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