German Osteoporosis Rates Up 30 Percent




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German Osteoporosis Rates Up 30 Percent

By Jane Burgermeiste

Reuters Health, April 28, 2003

VIENNA (Reuters Health) - Osteoporosis is reaching epidemic levels in Germany, according to a leading expert, who said on Monday that doctors and the general public need to pay more attention to the fragile bone disease.

Five to six million people in the country are estimated to already have osteoporosis, said Dr. Walter Fassbender from the University Clinic Frankfurt and an organizer of this year's conference of the German Society for Internal Medicine in Wiesbaden.

A huge increase in osteoporosis incidence is due to a higher life expectancy, a diet low in calcium and vitamin D as well as low levels of physical exercise, he told Reuters Health.

"Osteoporosis was responsible for 70,000 hip fractures in 1998, but the disease was responsible for 120,000 hip fractures in 2002. Levels of osteoporosis have risen by 30 percent in just five years and we expect them to go on rising at an accelerating rate," he said.

More than a million of those suffering from osteoporosis in Germany are men.

"Half of men who are suffering from the disease have secondary osteoporosis due to conditions such as renal disease, a hyperactive thyroid and, most frequently, hypogonadism," Fassbender said.

Furthermore, mortality rates due to osteoporosis are under-recognized, he said.

Twenty percent of all those patients who suffer hip fractures die within a year. Another 20 percent of patients who suffer hip fractures are hospitalized for the rest of their lives.

Fassbender also noted that 80 percent of the 3 billion euros spent by the health system on osteoporosis is used to treat patients with hip fractures.

"We must raise the awareness of how widespread osteoporosis is. Doctors are often failing to diagnose spinal fractures in patients, leaving many patients without proper treatment," he said.

He said that a balanced diet with adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D as well as plenty of exercise all helped to protect against brittle bones.

In addition to a balanced diet and regular exercise, Fassbender said that selective estrogen modulators and bisphosphonates are two effective therapeutic options for treating osteoporosis.