20 Nov 2009
The incidence of osteoporosis-related hip fracture in the US could be reduced by a quarter if more effective disease management is implemented.
This is according to a study published by California organisation Kaiser Permanente, which tracked 650,000 men and women on Kaiser Permanente's osteoporosis management programme.
It found that hip fractures dropped by 38 per cent, with 970 prevented over the course of 2007.
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Richard Dell said that, in the US, the rate of treatment after a fragility fracture stands at just 20 per cent.
"Treatment after a fragility fracture at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California is now 68 per cent," he explained.
"Healthcare would be drastically improved if this model of osteoporosis care were adapted for the rest of America."
The US National Committee on Quality Assurance recently published a study revealing that 80 per cent of the ten million Americans with osteoporosis are women.
According to the UK National Osteoporosis Society, one in two women and one in five men over 50 will break a bone because of poor health.
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