How serious is osteoporosis?

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.