Identification and Fracture Outcomes of Undiagnosed Low Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

Osteoporotic fractures are an important cause of disability.¹ Hip fracture is associated with a 20% excess mortality in the year following fracture.² The cost of managing fractures is substantial: approximately $13.8 billion dollars were spent in the United States in 1995 alone³; estimates of current costs would almost certainly be larger. The size of the population aged 50 years or older will increase markedly during the next several decades, driven by the aging of the baby boomers and by increasing longevity. Thus, the direct as well as indirect costs of fractures are expected to increase correspondingly, both in the United States and worldwide.⁴