Osteoporosis is a major health care burden in Europe which results in 4.3 million fragility fractures and health care costs in excess of €56 billion annually.
Presenting impactful data for 29 European countries, the new publication ‘ Osteoporosis in Europe: A Compendium of Country-Specific Reports ’ reveals that in several European countries the high burden of osteoporosis stands in stark contrast to suboptimal osteoporosis care, service provision, and treatment uptake. 1
The new publication reviews and describes the current burden of osteoporosis in each of the EU member states plus Switzerland and the UK (termed EU27+2), and audits key metrics in four domains: burden of disease; policy framework; service provision; and service uptake. The detailed data presented in the new publication has been extracted from a concurrent publication ‘ SCOPE 2021: a new scorecard for osteoporosis in Europe ’, which presents aggregate data. 2
Given the significance of the findings to European healthcare policy, the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) has compiled the key data from the two related SCOPE 2021 scientific publications in a new illustrated SCOPE Summary Report . The Summary Report, which includes an urgent 10-point call to action, as well as a related slide set, country-specific factsheets, and infographics, is available on the IOF website . 3
Professor John Kanis, lead author and Honorary President of IOF, stated:
“Although we have found wide differences in service provision and uptake, all 29 European countries surveyed face an enormous osteoporosis and fragility fracture burden, with a substantial impact on current and future healthcare budgets. In aggregate, the economic burden of incident and prior fragility fractures was estimated at close to €57 billion in 2019, with an estimated 248,487 causally related deaths that year. As the number of women and men aged 75 years or more is expected to increase by more than 29% and 42% respectively between 2019 and 2034, the annual number of osteoporotic fractures will rise considerably. It is expected to increase by approximately +24.8% in that time period, reaching 5.34 million annual fragility fractures.”
“These alarming projections should spur concerted action on the part of all healthcare authorities in Europe.”
In the 2019 Compendium of country-specific reports, data for 15 of the 16 scorecard metrics on healthcare provision, representing three domains, were compared with data from 2010. Scores had improved or markedly improved in 15 countries, remained constant in 8 countries, and had worsened in 3 countries. While the scorecard reveals that there is a considerable need for improvement across Europe, it is of particular urgency in those countries which have inadequate service provision or uptake set against a high disease burden.
Among further findings, the SCOPE and country-specific reports revealed:
Professor Cyrus Cooper, IOF President, concluded:
“Only nine of the 29 European countries surveyed in this report recognize osteoporosis or musculoskeletal diseases as a national health priority. This must change. To prompt action for prevention, IOF calls for a Europe-wide strategy and parallel national strategies to provide coordinated osteoporosis care and to reduce debilitating fractures and their impact on individual lives and health care systems.”
All SCOPE 2021 resources, including the scientific publications, illustrated Summary Report, country-specific factsheets, and infographics are available at https://www.osteoporosis.foundation/scope-2021
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Further reading
1. Willers C, Norton N, Harvey NC, Jacobson T, Johansson H, Lorentzon M, McCloskey EV, Borgström F, Kanis JA & the SCOPE review panel of IOF. Osteoporosis in Europe: A Compendium of country-specific reports. Arch Osteoporos 17, 23 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11657-021-00969-8
2. Kanis JA, Norton N, Harvey NC, Jacobson T, Johansson H, Lorentzon M, McCloskey EV, Willers C, Borgström F. SCOPE 2021: a new scorecard for osteoporosis in Europe. Arch Osteoporos 16, 82 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11657-020-00871-9
3. SCOPE 2021 resources, including the Summary Report and Country factsheets https://www.osteoporosis.foundation/scope-2021
About SCOPE 2021 and the Compendium of Country-Specific Reports
The mission of the scorecard for osteoporosis in Europe (SCOPE) project is to raise awareness of osteoporosis care in Europe. SCOPE permits an in-depth comparison of the quality of care of osteoporosis across the 27 member states of the European Union (EU27), together with the UK and Switzerland (termed EU27+2). SCOPE summarises key indicators of the burden of osteoporosis and its management in each of the member states of the European Union to draw attention to the disparities in healthcare provision that can serve in the setting of benchmarks to inform patients, healthcare providers, and policymakers in the EU. This update of the original SCOPE publication and scorecard compares the original results from 2010 to data as recent as 2019. The newer data provides a more recent overview, as well as a way to compare the management of osteoporosis over time, within and between the EU27+2 countries. In developing this scorecard, the aim is to stimulate a balanced, common, and optimal approach to the management of osteoporosis throughout the EU27+2.
All SCOPE resources are available here: https://www.osteoporosis.foundation/scope-2021
About IOF
The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is the world's largest nongovernmental organization dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and related musculoskeletal diseases. IOF members include committees of scientific researchers as well as 300 patient, medical and research organizations – all working together to make fracture prevention and healthy mobility a worldwide healthcare priority. https://www.osteoporosis.foundation @iofbonehealth
Contact IOF at info@osteoporosis.foundation
Archives of Osteoporosis
Data/statistical analysis
Not applicable
Osteoporosis in Europe: A Compendium of country-specific reports
26-Jan-2022