Epidemiological Aspects and the Treatment of Osteoporosis in Very Elderly Patients

Abstract

BACKGROUND The incidence of osteoporotic fractures increases with age. Age is one of the major determinants, not only for the absolute risk of fracture, but also for the type of osteoporotic fracture. Osteoporosis (OP) in very old individuals is underdiagnosed and under-treated. There is a lack of data related to the epidemiological aspects of this subgroup and conclusive evidences regarding the efficacy of the available treatments. In this paper we will discuss some of these data observed in patients over 85 years of age, with a diagnosis of OP, followed in a referenced service. MATERIALS AND METHODS A review of 91 medical records, belonging to very old patients with a mean age of 89.5 years, who were followed up at the osteoporosis clinic, and tabulated the main characteristics, such as sex, ethnicity, time of disease, pharmacological treatment (previous and current), presence and site of fracture by fragility, among other information. RESULTS As to gender and ethnicity, 81 were female and 10 were males, 73 were of Caucasian ethnicity, while 18 were of other ethnicities. The mean follow-up time for osteoporosis is 10.5 years.