Understanding and predicting patient-specific osteoporotic fractures

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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.