The statistics on osteoporosis-related bone breaks are alarming and will only get worse as the Baby Boomer population continues aging. Currently someone in the US breaks their hip every two minutes. It costs $19 billion annually to treat fractures among seniors (a figure projected to increase to over $25 billion by the year 2025), yet the majority of patients are released without being evaluated for osteoporosis — the underlying disease which may have led to the fracture.  

In effort to reverse the current trend, the National Bone Health Alliance(NBHA) is joining more than 70 leading organizations from around the world in supporting a Global Call to Action to improve care for people who suffer fragility fractures. Published online by Science Direct, the Call to Action outlines transforming the surgical and medical care provided to those hospitalized with a hip fracture, spinal fracture or other major fragility fracture; efforts to prevent second and subsequent fractures following a person's first fragility fracture; and rehabilitation to restore mobility and independence for people whose ability to function is impaired after a hip or other major fragility fracture.

"It is no longer acceptable for patients to be treated for fractures and released from medical care without assessment and interventions to reduce their risk of a repeat fracture," said Susan Greenspan, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director, Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment Center, University of Pittsburgh, NOF President and NBHA Co-Chair. "The Fragility Fracture Network's Call to Action supports NBHA's ongoing commitment to secondary fracture prevention and we're thrilled to see the international community recognizing the need to transform the treatment and rehabilitation people receive after suffering a fragility fracture."

"After suffering an osteoporotic fracture, a patient's likelihood of suffering another fracture increases three to five times, yet currently only about a quarter of patients are evaluated and treated for osteoporosis after their first fracture," said Dr. Robert Adler, Professor of Internal Medicine, Epidemiology and Community Health, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Chief, Endocrinology and Metabolism, McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and NBHA Co-Chair. "With our commitment to secondary fracture prevention and the support of this Global Call to Action, we can close the current 70 to 80 percent care gap for testing and treating patients over age 50 who experience a fracture."

To tackle the current osteoporosis crisis, six leading organizations recently came together at an annual congress of the fragility fracture network to develop the global call to action on fragility fractures.

"Fragility fractures can devastate the quality of life of people who suffer them and are pushing our already overstretched health systems to a breaking point," said Professor Karsten E. Dreinhöfer, lead author of the publication. "As the first of the baby boomers are now into their seventies, we must take control of this problem immediately before it is too late."

The Global Call to Action illustrates that for the first time, all the leading organizations in the world have recognized the need for collaboration on an entirely new scale. The Global Call to Action proposes specific priorities for people with fragility fractures and their advocacy organizations, individual health workers, healthcare professional organizations, governmental organizations, insurers, health systems and healthcare practices, and the life sciences industry.