Estimated epidemiology of osteoporosis diagnoses and osteoporosis-related high fracture risk in Germany: a German claims data analysis

Abstract

Osteoporosis is one of the most prevalent diseases in developed countries, mainly affecting older adults. It leads to decreased bone mass, bone microarchitecture deterioration, and increased risk of fracture. This epidemiological study investigated the prevalence and incidence of osteoporosis diagnoses and assessed the number of osteoporosis patients who are at high risk of vertebral/femoral fracture. We analyzed German claims data (AOK PLUS) covering 2010-2016. All included patients were diagnosed with osteoporosis (ICD-10 M80.*/M81.*). Vertebral/femoral and other fractures were identified based on respective ICD-10 codes. Patient numbers were extrapolated to the entire German population, based on patient age and gender. In 2016, 169,282 patients (143,967 females and 25,315 males) had prevalent osteoporosis, 25,996 (20,425 females and 5571 males) of which were newly diagnosed that year. Extrapolated prevalence for Germany was 3.61 million patients (4.44% of the German population). Extrapolated incidence was 0.62 million patients. Of patients with prevalent osteoporosis, 13,613 experienced an incident vertebral/femoral fracture in 2016 (German extrapolation: 258,957 patients). Of these, 36.88% received an osteoporosis treatment that year. Our study identified a high number of prevalent and incident patients with osteoporosis claims in Germany. The increasing age of the German population will likely lead to a significant increase in the number of patients with osteoporosis over the next decades. Treatment of osteoporosis patients with high fracture risk, especially those with a recent vertebral/femoral fracture, should be of particular focus, as a substantial proportion does not receive a guideline-based treatment.