Key facts and statistics for this region

Osteoporosis affects an estimated 75 million people in Europe, USA and Japan (1).

The highest risk of hip fractures are seen in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and the USA (39).

It is estimated that around 40% of US white women and 13% of US white men aged 50 years will experience at least one clinically apparent fragility fracture in their lifetime. At age 50, a white woman has a 17% chance of sustaining a hip fracture, 15% chance of vertebral fracture and 16% chance for forearm fracture, with comparable figures of 6%, 5% and 2.5%, respectively, for fractures in white males (11).

It has been estimated that in the USA, 54% postmenopausal white women are osteopenic and 30% are osteoporotic, and by the age of 80, 27% of women are osteopenic and 70% are osteoporotic (139).

Fracture incidence in the USA is usually higher for whites and lower for other ethnic groups (140,141). The average rate of hip BMD loss is twice as great in white compared to African-American women and increases in age in both groups (200).

The National Osteoporosis Foundation in the USA reported that by 2010, about 12 million people over the age of 50 are expected to have osteoporosis and another 40 million to have low bone mass. By 2020, it is expected to increase to 14 million cases of osteoporosis and over 47 million cases of low bone mass (143). This increase in cases could cause the number of hip fractures to double or triple by 2040 (144).

In 2005 in the USA, there were predicted over 2 million fractures costing $17 billion. Nonvertebral fractures represented 73% of total fractures and accounted for 94% of total costs. The majority of costs are incurred by inpatient care (57%) and long-term care (30%) vs. 13% by outpatient care. Men accounted for 29% of fractures and 25% of the total cost burden. 70% of fractures and 87% of costs are incurred by those over 65 years of age. By 2025, annual fractures and costs are projected to increase by 50% and $25 billion, respectively (6).

Osteoporosis affects approximately 1.4 million Canadians, mainly postmenopausal women and the elderly (148). Osteoporosis affects 1 in 4 Canadian women and more than 1 in 8 men over the age of 50 years, with 1 in 4 men and women having evidence of a vertebral fracture (148,174).

In Canada, almost 30,000 hip fractures occur each year (148). 70-90% of these hip fractures are caused by osteoporosis (171). By the year 2030, the number of hip fractures is expected to quadruple (172,173).