The National Cost of Acute Care of Hip Fractures Associated with Osteoporosis

During 1976, the median cost of the direct medical care for a fracture of the proximal femur related to osteoporosis in Rochester, Minnesota, was 5, 644. Age- and sex-specific incidences for this fracture were determined for a 10-year period in the same population. When these data are applied to the United States population, it can be estimated that osteoporosis leads to over 150, 000 hip fractures annually, with a short-term direct cost in excess of one billion dollars.