In a 1989 study in Denmark, type I was found to comprise 71% of cases and type II 12% of cases, with other types comprising the other 17%. In a 2015 study in Sweden, type I was nearly six times more common than type III and nearly four times more common than type IV.Most people with OI receive it from a parent, but in many cases, it is a brand new (de novo or "sporadic") mutation in a family. Among a study of patients with survivable types of OI, OI type III is most often de novo (85%), followed by type IV (50%) and type I (34%). : Table 1 Some populations can have a higher incidence of OI than would be otherwise expected if they have a larger than average number of carriers of the recessive forms of the disease. : 20–21

History
The condition, or types of it, has had various other names over the years and in different nations; "osteogenesis imperfecta" has, however, been the most widely accepted name for the condition since the late 20th century. Among some of the most common alternatives are "fragilitas ossium"; "Ekman–Lobstein syndrome", and "Vrolik syndrome", both eponyms; and, the colloquialism, "brittle bone disease". Earliest recorded cases
OI has been identified in an ancient Egyptian infant mummified in around 1000 BC, originally dismissed by archaeologists as containing the remains of a monkey.
Neurosurgery may be needed to correct severe abnormalities when they risk the patients life or cause either great suffering or intolerable neurological deficits. : 106–107

Systemic
As its biological causes have been more precisely determined, it has become more widely recognized that while the primary disease process of OI happens in the bones, the most common types of OI—those caused by type I collagen gene mutations—affect virtually all of the human bodys organs in some way.Type I collagen is present throughout the circulatory and respiratory systems: from the ventricles of the heart itself, to the heart valves, to the vasculature,: 329  it is an integral part of the connective tissue of the lungs. : 336  As such, cardiovascular complications, among them aortic insufficiency, aortic aneurysm, and arterial dissections, are sometimes comorbid with OI,: 333  but not as frequently as they are comorbid with Marfan syndrome. : 332 Respiratory illnesses are a major cause of death in OI. : 335  The most obvious source of respiratory problems in OI is pulmonary insufficiency caused by problems in the architecture of the thoracic wall. : 341  However, respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia, are also more fatal among those with OI than the general population. Those with more severe ribcage deformities were found to have worse lung restriction in a small-scale 2012 study involving 22 Italian patients with OI types III and IV, plus 26 non-affected controls.OI—especially its severe form type III—also has effects on the gastrointestinal system. It was found to be associated with recurrent abdominal pain and chronic constipation in two studies on patients affected by OI.