Understanding and predicting patient-specific osteoporotic fractures

骨质疏松症已成为全球健康的优先事项，2009年10月20日被指定为“世界骨质疏松症日”。在加拿大，骨质疏松症的患病率在50岁以上的女性中为21.3%，男性中为5.5%。加拿大每年发生超过30，000例髋关节骨折。到2041年，由于人口老龄化，加拿大髋部骨折的数量预计将增加四倍，每年髋部骨折的费用预计将增加到24亿美元。尽管来自患者股骨的双能X射线吸收测定法（DXA）的骨矿物质密度（BMD）目前是世界卫生组织（WHO）指定的用于诊断骨质疏松症的参考标准，但许多骨质疏松性骨折发生时测量值高于常规骨质疏松性阈值。因此，仅根据BMD预测骨质疏松性骨折并不是最佳的;其他与BMD无关的因素，如患者身高和体重，也在骨质疏松性骨折中发挥作用。

Osteoporosis has become a worldwide health priority and October 20th, 2009 was designated "World Osteoporosis Day". In Canada, the prevalence of osteoporosis is 21.3% in women and 5.5% in men over age 50. Over 30,000 osteoporotic hip fractures occur each year in Canada. By the year 2041, the number of hip fractures in Canada is expected to quadruple due to population aging and the annual cost of hip fractures is expected to increase to $2.4 billion. Although bone mineral density (BMD) from patients' femur dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is currently the reference standard designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the diagnosis of osteoporosis, many osteoporotic fractures occur with measurements above the conventional osteoporotic threshold. Therefore, prediction of osteoporotic fractures based on BMD alone is not optimal; other BMD-independent factors such as patient height and body weight also play roles in osteoporotic fractures.