Overview
- The WIdO/AOK Osteoporosis Health Atlas reports 2.15 million Germans aged 35 and over with the disease and a prevalence decline from 4.6% in 2017 to 4.0%.
- The DOUV estimates around five million people are affected nationwide, roughly 80% of them women, with risk rising steeply after menopause.
- Doctors cite more than 800,000 osteoporotic fractures a year and warn that about 76% of patients are not treated according to guidelines, contributing to high disability, deaths and frequent second fractures.
- Marking World Osteoporosis Day, the DOUV launched a public campaign with ambassadors Uschi Glas and Claudia Kleinert urging quick, low-dose DXA bone-density tests that typically take about three minutes.
- Regional disparities persist, with higher diagnosed rates in eastern states such as Saxony-Anhalt (5.8%) and lower rates in Hamburg (2.9%) and districts like Mainz-Bingen (2.7%).