Wednesday, April 22, 2015
- Around 35% of over 65s will fall in a year, rising approximately to 50% for those aged 80 and over.
- 75% of falls are not reported
- Falls destroy confidence, increase isolation and reduce independence, with 9% of older people who fall becoming afraid to leave their homes in case they fall again.
- In the UK, one in two women and one in five men will suffer a fracture at some point after the aged of 50, mainly because of poor bone health.
- About 300,000 fragility fractures occur in the UK annually, including 89,000 hip fractures.
- For women, the risk of sustaining a hip fracture is greater than the risk of developing breast cancer.
- The combined annual cost of hospital and social care for patients with a hip fracture in the UK was calculated in 2011 by the National Osteoporosis Society as £2.3 billion, or more than £6 million a day, in the UK.
- Three million people in the UK are estimated to have osteoporosis.
- Each year, fractures in patients aged 60 years and over account for more than 1.5 million hospital bed days in the UK.
- 10% of hip fracture patients will die within one month of their fracture, 30% will die within a year and there are 13,800 hip fracture related deaths a year in the UK.
- Women who site for more than 9 hours a day are 50% more likely to have a hip fracture than those who site for less than 6 hours a day.
- A tailored exercise programme can reduce an individual’s risk of falling by up to 50%.
