Introduction Osteoporosis is a burden for Germany, however recent data on osteoporotic forearm fractures is missing.
Methods Numbers of hospital diagnosed forearm fractures based on ICD-10 code S52.- for 2000 to 2017 were taken from GBE database. From this dataset, number of osteoporotic forearm fractures in patients aged 50+ years were calculated using age- and gender specific weighting factors. In addition, fracture rates per 100,000 people, total days in hospital and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) lost due to osteoporotic forearm fractures were calculated.
Results In 2017, a total of 69,046 osteoporotic forearm fractures were diagnosed in hospitals in patients aged 50+ years in Germany, which represents an increase of 48.8% since 2000. Age-adjusted fracture rates in women were 300/100,000 (standard error [SE] 1.25) in 2017 compared to 248/100,000 (SE 1.25) in 2000 (Odds ratio [OR]: 1.21 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02; 1.43]; p = 0.026). In male patients fracture rates were 62/100,000 (SE 0.61) in 2017 and 53/100,000 (SE 0.65) in 2000 (OR: 1.17 [95% CI: 0.81; 1.69]; p = 0.401). However, highest numbers and rates of osteoporotic forearm fractures were seen in 2010.Osteoporotic forearm fractures resulted in 276,185 hospital days and 2,259 lost QALYs in patients aged 50+ years in 2017.
Conclusion Number of osteoporotic forearm fractures increased from 2000 to 2017 in Germany and indicate a high burden of disease for patients and healthcare system.