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Osteoporosis-linked fractures have risen
dramatically
Newswise — The hospitalization rate of
patients admitted for treatment of hip,
pelvis and other fractures associated with
osteoporosis increased by 55 percent between
1995 and 2006, according to the latest News
and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality.
An estimated 10 million Americans suffer
from osteoporosis, which causes bones to
become brittle and weak.
Fractures associated with osteoporosis can
be slow to heal, and they also can cause
debilitating pain, disability, deformities
and occasionally death.
The federal agency’s study also found that
fractures associated with osteoporosis:
• Accounted for one-fourth of the roughly 1
million hospitalizations in 2006 of patients
with osteoporosis.
• Cost hospitals $2.4 billion in 2006.
• Caused women to be six times more likely
to be hospitalized than men.
• Involved mostly older patients: 90 percent
of hospitalizations were for age 65 and
older and 37 percent for patients age 85 and
older.
• Were highest in the Midwest (107 per
100,000 people) and lowest in the West (68
per 100,000 people).
This AHRQ News and Numbers is based on data
in U.S. Hospitalizations Involving
Osteoporosis and Injury, 2006 (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb76.pdf)
The report uses statistics from the 2006
Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of
hospital inpatient stays that is nationally
representative of inpatient stays in all
short-term, non-Federal hospitals.
The data are drawn from hospitals that
comprise 90 percent of all discharges in the
United States and include all patients,
regardless of insurance type, as well as the
uninsured.
The report also uses statistics from a
special disparities analysis file created
from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization
Project 2006 State Inpatient Databases.
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