Report states 13% of projected increase in fractures
by year 2025 could be avoided cost-effectively with increased
uptake of osteoporosis treatments

June 17, 2011

Nyon, Switzerland

It pays to prevent fractures. That’s one of the main findings
of a landmark report ‘Osteoporosis – Burden, Healthcare
provision and Opportunities in the European Union’ newly
published in the journal ‘Archives of Osteoporosis’.
The study, compiled by the International Osteoporosis Foundation
(IOF) in collaboration with the European Federation of the
Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), calculates the
future burden of fractures as a consequence of increasing treatment
uptake in the five largest European countries as well as
Sweden.

Fragility fractures, which affect as many as one in three women and
one in five men over the age of 50, have immense social and health
economic consequences. In the six countries studied, an estimated
2.46 million fragility fractures occurred in 2010 (280 fractures
per hour). The result is often severe loss of quality of life,
long-term disability, loss of independence, or even early death
– in the six countries, 80 deaths per day are attributed to
fractures. Fractures are expensive for healthcare systems as they
involve immediate medical care, rehabilitation and nursing care for
the elderly who may consequently suffer from long-term
disability.

Improving treatment uptake to prevent future fractures

Largely due to the ageing of the population, the annual number of
fractures in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Sweden is
expected to increase by 28.9% in 2025 – from a current 2.46 million
to approximately 3.17 million. The total monetary burden in these
six countries alone is expected to increase from €30.7 Billion
in 2010 to €38.5 Billion in 2025.

Low treatment uptake is identified as a major problem. People at
high risk of fracture are simply not being identified and referred
for preventative treatment, while approximately 50% of those who
are identified for pharmacological intervention don’t follow
their prescribed treatment and/or discontinue treatment within one
year.

The report found that increasing treatment uptake to provide all
individuals with a 10-year probability of fracture exceeding that
of an age and sex-matched individual with a previous fracture with
a 3-year treatment would require a 2.4-fold increase in provision
of treatment. As a result, a significant number of future fractures
could be avoided cost-effectively in the six European countries
studied:

• Increasing treatment uptake in the six countries would
result in 95,000 fewer fractures and 33,357 Quality of Life Years
(QALYs) gained annually in 2025;

• The accumulated number of potentially avoided fractures from
increasing uptake up to 2025 was estimated at 699,000;

• 13% of the projected increase in fractures and 20% of the
projected increase in lost QALYs could cost-effectively be
avoided.

“There is a large gap between the number of people that are
treated compared to the number that are eligible for treatment
based on fracture risk, “ stated IOF President John Kanis,
Emeritus Professor in Human Metabolism and the Director of the WHO
Collaborating Centre for Metabolic Bone Diseases at the University
of Sheffield. “By decreasing that gap, and simultaneously
improving adherence to treatment, we could significantly reduce the
future human and health economic burden of fractures in
Europe,“ he said.

Osteoporosis: Burden, health care provision and opportunities in
the European Union

Archives of Osteoporosis (2011). O. Ström, F. Borgström,
J.A. Kanis,J. Compston, C. Cooper, E. V. McCloskey & B.
Jönsson. DOI 10.1007/s11657-011-0060-1

The report can be accessed via the IOF website at
http://www.iofbonehealth.org/about-iof/the-organization/committee-of-scientific-advisors-csa/publications-position-and-consensus-statements.html
and will soon be available on the ‘Archives of
Osteoporosis’ website at http://www.springerlink.com/content/1862-3514
.

ENDS

About IOF

The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is a non-profit,
nongovernmental umbrella organization dedicated to the worldwide
fight against osteoporosis, the disease known as “the silent
epidemic”. IOF’s members – committees of
scientific researchers, patient, medical and research societies and
industry representatives from around the world – share a
common vision of a world without osteoporotic fractures. IOF now
represents 199 societies in 93 locations.
http://www.iofbonehealth.org

About EFPIA

The EFPIA represents the pharmaceutical industry operating in
Europe. Through its direct membership of 31 national associations
and 40 leading pharmaceutical companies, EFPIA provides the voice
of 2,200 companies committed to researching, developing and
bringing new medicines to improve health and quality of life around
the world. http://www.efpia.eu/

New report reviewing data from 6 major European countries finds
large gap between the number of people that are treated for
osteoporosis compared to the number that are eligible for treatment
based on fracture risk. Low adherence to medication compounds the
treatment gap. The report found that 13% of the projected increase
in fractures by year 2025 could be avoided cost-effectively with
increased uptake of osteoporosis treatments.