For World Osteoporosis Day
2019, IOF issued a global press release to media in all regions of the world,
shown below.
October 18, 2019 – Geneva, Switzerland
Marine fractured her spine while bending to help her
disabled mother. Lo Lan broke her hip after tripping over a loose carpet in her
home. Both women have something in common. They were unaware that they had
osteoporosis, the disorder which causes bones to become weak and as fragile as glass.
People with osteoporosis can fracture a bone even after the most minor fall
from standing height, or from simply sneezing, or bending to tie a shoelace.
Worldwide, one in three women and one in five men aged
50 or over will sustain an osteoporosis-related fracture. Approximately 200
million people are affected, resulting in a fracture every 3 seconds.
On World
Osteoporosis Day, October 20, the
International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), together with its 250 member
organizations worldwide, urge all older adults to be aware of osteoporosis risk
factors and to consult their doctors if they are at risk.
Although there are many factors which can point to
possible underlying osteoporosis, among the most common are: a broken bone
after age 50 following a low-trauma fall; height loss of more than 4 cm (ca 1.5
inches); long-term use of glucocorticoids and other bone damaging medications;
being frail and underweight; and parental history of osteoporosis or hip
fracture. A quick and easy way to alert oneself to possible risk is with the
new online IOF Osteoporosis Risk Check.
A fracture in one’s senior years can be life-changing.
Acute pain, lengthy rehabilitation, long-term disability, dependence on
caregivers, and loss of quality of life are all too common. Hip fractures can
be life-threatening and loss of function and independence among survivors is
profound, with 40% unable to walk independently and 60% requiring assistance a
year later. Because of these losses, 33% are totally dependent or in a nursing
home in the year following a hip fracture.
IOF President Professor Cyrus Cooper, states:
"All adults must make their bone health a priority.
Maintaining strong bones and muscles is the key to an active, mobile future at
older age. If you’re at risk, don’t hesitate to ask your doctor for testing and
an appropriate treatment strategy if needed. Today, there is a wide range of
effective osteoporosis treatments which have been shown to reduce the risk of
hip fractures by up to 40% and spine fractures by 30-70%.”
IOF also calls on health authorities to prioritize
bone health and thereby reduce the costly human and economic burden of
fragility fractures in their countries.
Professor Cooper adds:
"As experts in the field we join our patient advocates
in urging global action. A pervasive treatment gap is leaving even the most
high-risk patients unprotected against fractures. An individual who has already
had one fragility fracture is highly vulnerable to further fractures, with a
five times greater risk of another fracture within the first year. Yet
approximately 80% of these patients are neither identified nor treated for the
underlying cause, osteoporosis.”
A key strategy to addressing the treatment gap and the
global fragility fracture crisis is the implementation of Fracture Liaison
Services in all hospitals which see fracture patients. Such coordinated,
multi-disciplinary services improve patient care and help reduce secondary
fractures – ultimately decreasing enormous fracture-related healthcare costs
around the world.
