How prevalent is osteoporosis in Australia?
• An estimated 692,000 Australians (3.4% of the total population) had doctordiagnosed cases of osteoporosis in 2007–08. Women accounted for the majority of cases (81.9%). The disease occurs mainly in people aged 55 years and over (84.0%). • Osteoporosis, a condition without overt symptoms, is known to be under-diagnosed. While the extent of this is difficult to establish, the prevalence of doctor-diagnosed osteoporosis is almost certainly an underestimate. Is osteoporosis more prevalent in some subpopulations than in others? • The diagnosis of osteoporosis was more prevalent among those who live in Major cities than in rural and remote locations. • In 2004–05, 0.74% of Indigenous males and 1.11% of Indigenous females reported having doctor-diagnosed cases of osteoporosis. The age-standardised prevalence rates show that osteoporosis was more common among Indigenous males (1.8 times) but less common among Indigenous females (0.5 times) than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Where are th
