Statistics - Osteoporosis

Key facts about Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis affects at least 600,000 Australians, mostly women and men of middle-age and older.

• 1 in 2 women over the age of 60 and
• 1 in 4 men over the age of 60

will suffer an osteoporotic fracture in their lifetime.

In 2007, Osteoporosis imposed a huge burden on the Quality of Life of Australians aged over 50, with approximately 25% of those who sustain a hip fracture dying within 12 months of sustaining the fracture.

Of those who do not die following their hip fracture – 50% require long-term help with routine activities and cannot walk unaided and 25% require full-time nursing-home care.

The cost burden of brittle bones remains extremely high with over 1.9 billion dollars alone in direct costs – including hospital treatment, rehabilitation, therapy and home care. As our older population increases these costs can only escalate.

Someone was admitted to hospital with an osteoporotic fracture every 5-6 minutes in 2007 (up from every 8.1 minutes in 2001) – averaging 262 hospitalisations per day.

Vertebral fractures are largely undetected or treated. Studies have shown that there is at least a two fold increased risk of hip fracture after a vertebral fracture, thus timely diagnosis and treatment after a vertebral fracture might avoid a high number of new fractures including hip fractures

The direct costs associated with these fractures amount to an
estimated 1.9 billion dollars each year in Australia.