Mini-AbstractIn Switzerland, the number, incidence, and cost of acute hospitalizations for major osteoporotic fractures and major cardiovascular events increased in both women and men between 2000 and 2008, although the mean length of stay was significantly reduced. Similar trend patterns were observed for hip fractures and strokes (decrease) and non-hip fractures and acute myocardial infarctions (increase). Methods : Trends in the number, age-standardized incidence, mean length of stay and cost of hospitalized MOF (hip, clinical spine, distal radius, and proximal humerus), major cardiovascular events (MCE: acute myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and breast carcinoma were compared in women and men aged ≥45 years, based on data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office hospital database and population statistics.Results : Between 2000 and 2008, the age-standardized incidence of acute hospitalizations for MOF increased by 3.4% in women and 0.3% in men. In both sexes, a significant decrease in hip fractures (-15.0% and -11.0%) was compensated by a concomitant, significant increase in non-hip fractures (+24.8% and +13.8%).Similarly, the incidence of acute hospitalizations for MCE increased by 4.4% in women and 8.2% in men, as an aggregated result from significantly increasing acute myocardial infarctions and significantly decreasing strokes. While the mean length of stay in the acute inpatient setting decreased almost linearly between year 2000 and 3 2008 in all indications, the inpatient costs increased significantly (p<0.001) for MOF (+30.1%, +42.7%) and MCE (+22.6%, +47.1%) in women and men, respectively. In women in 2008, the cost of acute hospitalizations was more than threefold higher for MOF than for COPD and breast cancer and 1.5 fold higher than for any MCE. In men it was comparable to that of COPD, acute myocardial infarction, and heart failure.Conclusions : In conclusion, between year 2000 and 2008, the burden of hospitalized osteoporotic fractures to the Swiss healthcare system has continued to increase in both sexes. In women, this burden was significantly higher than that of major cardiovascular events and the gap between both disease groups widened over time.