Osteoporosis Statistics

To understand the serious impact of the disease, it's important to become familiar with the statistics on osteoporosis. For example, while the disease is more common in older people, it can strike at any age, and millions of people are at risk. Additional statistics show that the disease is responsible for 1.5 million fractures a year and costs the United States $14 billion annually.

Osteoporosis Statistics You Need to Know

The following information helps put in perspective how serious a problem osteoporosis is:
 
  • Osteoporosis is a major public health threat for 44 million Americans (68 percent are women).

 

  • In the United States today, 10 million individuals already have osteoporosis, and 34 million more have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for this disease.

 

  • One out of every two women and one in four men over 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in his or her lifetime.

 

  • More than two million American men suffer from osteoporosis, and millions more are at risk. Each year, 80,000 men have a hip fracture, and one-third of these men die within a year.

 

  • Osteoporosis can strike at any age.

 

  • Osteoporosis is responsible for more than 1.5 million fractures annually, including 300,000 hip fractures, approximately 700,000 vertebral fractures, 250,000 wrist fractures, and more than 300,000 fractures at other sites.

 

  • Based on figures from hospitals and nursing homes, the estimated national direct expenditures for osteoporosis and related fractures total $14 billion each year.
     
Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
 
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