Yesterday (October 20th 2009) was World Osteoporosis Day. It formed part of a two year campaign to galvanise worldwide support to influence positive changes in government and private healthcare policies to recognise osteoporosis as a priority health issue. Intute has a number of evaluated resources on the topic of osteoporosis which include guidelines, reports, tutorials, and patient information.
In the UK approximately one in two women and one in five men over the age of 50 will break a bone – mainly due to poor bone health. The most common osteoporotic fractures occur in the hip, wrist or vertebrae. There are no particular symptoms or warning signs prior to fracture (hence it has been termed the ’silent epidemic’) but there are certainly risk factors. Unfortunately many people are never identified as being at risk until after they have fractured – and even then they may not receive appropriate preventative treatment to reduce the risk of another fracture in the future.
The costs to individuals and to society of the estimated annual 230,000 osteoporotic fractures in the UK are sobering. Over a thousand people die every month as a result of sustaining a fracture. For those that survive a serious fracture, a significant number of (usually older) people are left struggling with some aspects of daily living activity such as walking, dressing, cooking etc. Just the fear of falling can result in a limitation of daily activities and a severely reduced quality of life. The chances of an individual losing their independence and having to rely on family, home care services, or having to move into residential care are high. In financial terms, it has been estimated that in the UK the cost of hospital and social care for people with a hip fracture costs about £6 million a day.
There are, of course, examples of good risk-identification and treatment practices in our healthcare system. However, there are still far too many people ’slipping through the net’ and sustaining potentially avoidable fractures. These numbers can only increase as the proportion of older people in our society increases. Given the human and financial costs, surely it’s time for osteoporosis to be given higher priority as a health issue?
Tags: bone health, fractures, osteoporosis
