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The potential effect on hip fracture incidence of mass screening for osteoporosis
Author(s) -
Pocock Nicholas A,
Culton Nicole L,
Harris Neil D
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1999.tb127851.x
Subject(s) - osteoporosis , medicine , hip fracture , incidence (geometry) , physical therapy , population , population ageing , environmental health , physics , optics
With ageing of the Australian population, treatment of osteoporosis‐related hip fractures will impose an increasing burden on the healthcare system. Based on current age‐adjusted hip fracture incidence and population projections for New South Wales, we estimated a 90% increase in hip fractures by the year 2021. Contributing significantly to this increase will be the number of men reaching the high risk age group for osteoporotic hip fractures. A suggested solution — screening and appropriate therapy for individuals at high risk of osteoporosis — may have only a modest impact. Our calculations show that, even with optimistic screening and therapy compliance rates, hip fractures could still increase by over 50%. Other approaches need to be further explored. Email: n.pocock@unsw.edu.au