A study from the University of Southampton and Sheffield Medical School projects a dramatic increase in the burden of fragility fractures within the next three decades.
By 2040, approximately 319 million people will be at high risk of fracture – double the numbers considered at high risk today. The researchers found: in 2010, a total of 158 million people (137 million women and 21 million men aged 50 years or more) had a fracture probability at or above the high-risk threshold; globally 18.2% of women and 3.1% of men had a fracture probability above the fracture threshold; worldwide the number of individuals at high risk of fracture is expected to double by 2040, and increases are noted for all regions, but particularly marked in Africa and Latin America. Asia will have the highest proportion of the global burden, with 73 million women and 11 million men at high risk.
