title: The incidence of fragility fractures in Italy.
abstract: Osteoporosis can significantly impact on the risk of developing a fracture. Thus, fragility fractures represent a challenge for health professionals and decision makers of the twenty-first century. The aim of this work is to review the literature concerning osteoporotic fractures in Italy in terms of incidence, rate of hospitalization, relative risk of a new fragility fracture, and costs for the national health system. It was estimated that the costs of treating proximal femur fragility fractures in 2002 summed up to 1 billion Euros. The number of fragility fractures in Italy was calculated as follows: 91.494 hip fractures, 61.009 clinical vertebral fractures, 57.401 humeral fragility fractures, and 94.045 forearm/wrist fragility fractures. The incidence of fragility fractures in Italy is very high, and osteoporosis is the leading cause of morbidity in the Italian population.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ortopedia e Traumatologia, Universita' Dell'Insubria, Viale Luigi Borri 57, 21100, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ratti
authors.forename: Ettore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vulcano
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: La Barbera
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Canton
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Murena
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cherubino
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D005260:Female; D005543:Forearm Injuries / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D006810:Humeral Fractures / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058866:Osteoporotic Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012306:Risk; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology