§ Mr. AustinTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what assessment he has made of the incidence of osteoporosis; and what estimate he has made of the cost of osteoporosis to the NHS in Wales in the last 12 months; [37312]
(2) what estimate he has made of the cost of treating osteoporotic fractures in the last 12 months; [37319]
(3) what percentage and number of (a) accidents and (b) orthopaedic hospital admissions in Wales are directly attributable to osteoporosis; [37325]
(4) what estimate he has made of the projected number of osteoporotic fractures in Wales in the next 12 months and the number of (a) orthopaedic beds and (b) days of hospitalisation required to treat them. [37332]
§ Mr. Win Griffiths[holding answer 6 April 1998]: Information on the incidence of osteoporosis or the number of accidents caused by osteoporosis is not available centrally. It is estimated that around 0.1 per cent. of the 56,000 hospital admissions in the specialty of "Trauma and orthopaedics" during 1996–97 were attributable to osteoporosis. No estimate has been made of the number of osteoporotic fractures which are likely to occur during the next 12 months but 35 cases were treated as in-patients or day cases in NHS hospitals in Wales during 1996–97, accounting for 586 bed-days. Of these, only three cases were treated in beds in the specialty of "Trauma and orthopaedics", accounting for 78 bed-days. No information is available centrally concerning the cost of treating osteoporosis or osteoporotic fractures.