Osteoporotic fractures cause substantial costs

13 April 2015, by Elena Granina

The individual probability for a 50 year old woman of experiencing an osteoporotic fracture is higher than the probability of developing an atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or breast cancer. Osteoporotic fractures cause not only large health burden but also substantial costs.

Researchers at the Hamburger Center for Health Economics (HCHE) have shown the first analysis modeling the epidemiology and costs of fractures for Germany.

The conclusion: The analysis shows that 44.5% of all discounted direct fracture lifetime costs of a 50 year old woman are attributable to osteoporosis. For a 50 year old woman already suffering from osteoporosis, fracture lifetime costs are expected to be 3.3 fold the fracture costs of a healthy woman at the same age. The main cost drivers are hospital and long term care costs, causing around 70% of total fracture related lifetime costs.

 

Original contribution:

Florian Bleibler et al: Expected lifetime numbers and costs of fractures in postmenopausal women with and without osteoporosis in Germany: a discrete event simulation model; BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:284