Concerning Trends in Osteoporosis Treatment

Injuries from falls are the number one cause of preventable hospitalizations in older adults. The good news is that the incidence of hip fractures in older adults has been in decline over the last thirty years. However, the bad news is that the number hit a plateau in 2012 and has been increasing recently. Worryingly, the worldwide incidence of hip fractures is expected to increase in men by 310% and in women by 240%, compared to what the rates were in 1990.

The problem that this poses goes beyond the mere obvious issues that a broken hip causes. American seniors suffer a quarter of a million hip fractures each year. Even sadder is that many of these hip fractures, as many as a quarter of them, are fatal. And even among those who survive, half are permanently incapacitated and twenty percent will require long term nursing care.

Osteoporosis causes nearly nine million hip fractures annually. Just in the United States, six and a half million women die each year from complications after a hip fracture. Drugs called biphosphonates have been widely prescribed to post menopausal women for treating and preventing osteoporosis, but the number of at-risk patients taing it has steadily decreased since 2008. This reduction is due to a fear of negative side effects associated with the drugs, notably osteonecrosis of the jaw and atypical femur fractures. But this concern is perhaps unwarranted, as the incidence of these concerning side effects is incredibly rare. A very small percentage of people encounter them, and researchers work every day to understand the causes and how we can minimize them.