Colombia, in pursuit of excellence in bone fracture prevention

Abstract

By 2025, Colombia will be a country impacted by population aging. According to DANE statistics, the Colombian population is estimated at 53,057,212 million inhabitants, of which 51.2% are women and 48.8% are men. The population of people over 65 is growing exponentially and is expected to reach 9.1% by 2025, or around five million inhabitants. Osteoporotic fractures, which particularly affect this age group, have increased significantly, as shown in the article published in this edition on the follow-up to the secondary fracture prevention program at Hospital San José in Bogotá.

As stated in this editorial and based on the Audit Latam 2021 publication, the incidence of fractures doubled between 2015 and 2019, and projections for 2030 predict a 45.0% increase and for 2050 a 100% increase over current fracture figures. The article also reports on the estimated economic costs to the healthcare system attributed to the management of osteoporotic fractures, based on national reports and expressed in US dollars to facilitate interpretation and comparison in the Latin American context.

Although we have made progress in the diagnosis and therapeutic approach to osteoporosis with the update of the clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis, developed by the Colombian Association of Osteoporosis and Mineral Metabolism (ACOMM) (which seeks to bring early and timely management of osteoporosis to primary care, with the aim of preventing the first fracture), it is necessary that when a fracture does occur, the therapeutic care of patients be complemented by including them in secondary prevention programs, because it is known that the highest risk of subsequent fracture is observed in these patients and because it has been established not only in our environment but universally that long-term pharmacological and rehabilitation treatments do not achieve the levels of adherence required for optimal control of the disease and its complications.