Epidemiology of osteoporosis

Osteoporosis represents a major public health problem through its association with fragility fractures. Epidermologic studies from North America estimated the remaining lifetime risk for common fragility fractures to be 17.5% for hip fracture, 15.6% for clinically diagnosed vertebral fracture, and 16% for distal forearm fracture among white women aged 50 years. Corresponding risks among men are 6%, 5%, and 2.5%, respectively. All osteoporotic fractures are associated with significant morbidity, but hip and vertebral fractures also are associated with excess mortality. Demographic changes can be expected to cause the number of hip fractures occurring worldwide to increase from 1.66 million in 1990 to 6.26 million in 2050.