osteoporotic bone fractures are responsible for considerable pain decreased quality of life lost workdays and disability. up to 30% of patients suffering a hip fracture will require long-term nursing-home care. elderly patients can develop pneumonia and blood clots in the leg veins that can travel to the lungs (pulmonary embolism) due to prolonged bed rest after the hip fracture. osteoporosis has even been linked with an increased risk of death. some 20% of women with a hip fracture will die in the subsequent year as an indirect result of the fracture. in addition once a person has experienced a spine fracture due to osteoporosis he or she is at very high risk of suffering another such fracture in the near future (next few years). about 20% of postmenopausal women who experience a vertebral fracture will suffer a new vertebral fracture of bone in the following year.
what are the consequences of osteoporosis?