Statistics
related to osteoporosis are staggering. Consider just a few from the 2004
Surgeon General’s report:
·
Around
1.5 million people have a fracture related to osteoporosis each year.
·
Hip
fractures are responsible for 300,000 hospitalizations each year.
·
Up
to 700,000 vertebral compression fractures and 250,000 wrist fractures occur in
the United States each year.
·
The
cost for treating osteoporotic fractures each year is around $18 billion — $38
million a day.
·
Approximately
20 percent of seniors who suffer a hip fracture will die within one year.
·
Around
20 percent of seniors with a hip fracture will be in a nursing home within a
year.
·
White
women older than age 65 are twice as likely to fracture something as African
American women. Latino women’s fracture rates fall between the two groups. A
woman’s risk of hip fracture is equal to her risk of developing breast,
uterine, and ovarian cancer combined.
·
By
the year 2050, men will have one half of all hip fractures in the United
States.
