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The incidence of fragility fractures in Italy

Aging Clinical and Experimental Research volume 25, pages 13–14 (2013)Cite this article

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.

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Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ortopedia e Traumatologia, Universita’ Dell’Insubria, Viale Luigi Borri 57, 21100, Varese, Italy

    Chiara Ratti, Ettore Vulcano, Giuseppe La Barbera, Gianluca Canton, Luigi Murena & Paolo Cherubino

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  1. Chiara Ratti
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  2. Ettore Vulcano
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  3. Giuseppe La Barbera
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  4. Gianluca Canton
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  5. Luigi Murena
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  6. Paolo Cherubino
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Correspondence to Ettore Vulcano.

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Ratti, C., Vulcano, E., La Barbera, G. et al. The incidence of fragility fractures in Italy. Aging Clin Exp Res 25, 13–14 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-013-0071-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-013-0071-4

Keywords

  • Osteoporosis
  • Italy
  • Fragility fractures
  • Incidence
  • Epidemiology