Osteoporosis-Linked Fractures Rise Dramatically
AHRQ News and Numbers
Release date: July 17, 2009
The hospitalization rate of patients admitted for treatment of hip, pelvis and other fractures associated with osteoporosis increased by 55 percent between 1995 and 2006, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
An estimated 10 million Americans suffer from osteoporosis, which causes bones to become brittle and weak. Fractures associated with osteoporosis can be slow to heal, and they also can cause debilitating pain, disability, deformities, and occasionally death.
The Federal agency's study also found that fractures associated with osteoporosis:
•Accounted for one-fourth of the roughly 1 million hospitalizations in 2006 of patients with osteoporosis.
•Cost hospitals $2.4 billion in 2006.
•Caused women to be 6 times more likely to be hospitalized than men.
•Involved mostly older patients: 90 percent of hospitalizations were for age 65 and older and 37 percent for patients age 85 and older.
•Were highest in the Midwest (107 per 100,000 people) and lowest in the West (68 per 100,000 people).
This AHRQ News and Numbers is based on data in U.S. Hospitalizations Involving Osteoporosis and Injury, 2006. The report uses statistics from the 2006 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of hospital inpatient stays that is nationally representative of inpatient stays in all short-term, non-Federal hospitals. The data are drawn from hospitals that comprise 90 percent of all discharges in the United States and include all patients, regardless of insurance type, as well as the uninsured. The report also uses statistics from a special disparities analysis file created from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2006 State Inpatient Databases.
For more information contact Bob Isquith at Bob.Isquith@ahrq.hhs.gov (301) 427-1539).
Editor's Note: For more information about osteoporosis, go to Osteoporosis Treatments that Help Prevent Broken Bones: A Guide for Women after Menopause.
Current as of July 2009
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Osteoporosis-Linked Fractures Rise Dramatically
- By KMFDallas
- Posted August 22, 2009 at 7:33 pm · 5 replies
- In Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis
- Shared with the public
Explore topics in this discussion:
Exercise Cancer Pain Menopause Fractures Osteoporosis Fosamax Breast cancer
5 replies
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- By huessysignoret
- Posted August 23, 2009 at 1:28 pm
- Report post
Dear KMFDallas -- Did the report indicating the dramatic increase in fractures also track how many of these patients were taking bisphosphanates or other osteoporosis medications, and how many were using alternative medicine approaches?
- By bonafide
- Posted August 24, 2009 at 9:10 am
- Report post
I had posted the same question in a slightly different form as huessysignoret but the comment seems to have gone.
Also another poster submitted in a very good note about sunscreens, Vit D and our lack of exercise contributing the situation.
Just wondering where these replies go?
Fosamax was introduced in 1996 - I can't help but see the similarity in the increase in breast cancer with HRT and the decrease in BC with the reduction in the use of HRT...
There have been reports of these bone medications creating even more brittle bones... hard on the outside, soft on the inside and much more prone to fractures.
Bones need to FLEX to not break. They are living tissue.
- By huessysignoret
- Posted August 24, 2009 at 11:32 am
- Report post
Bonafide and Dallas -- the recent report showing the dramatic increase is osteoporosis-related fractures did NOT take into account (1) whether the patients were taking bisphosphanates or other anti-osteoporosis drugs, or 2) whether they were using an alternative medicine approach to combatting the condition, or 3) whether they even knew they had osteoporosis. I read the report AND, just to be sure, got the answer from the horse's (author's) mouth. And Bonafide -- I don't know where these replies go, either!
- By huessysignoret
- Posted August 24, 2009 at 11:32 am
- Report post
Bonafide and Dallas -- the recent report showing the dramatic increase in osteoporosis-related fractures did NOT take into account (1) whether the patients were taking bisphosphanates or other anti-osteoporosis drugs, or 2) whether they were using an alternative medicine approach to combatting the condition, or 3) whether they even knew they had osteoporosis. I read the report AND, just to be sure, got the answer from the horse's (author's) mouth. And Bonafide -- I don't know where these replies go, either!
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