Osteoporosis-linked Fractures Have Risen Dramatically

Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics
Article Date: 22 Jul 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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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.

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 six 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 (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb76.pdf). 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.

Editor's Note: For more information about osteoporosis, see Osteoporosis Treatments that Help Prevent Broken Bones: A Guide for Women after Menopause.

Source
AHRQ

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