The incidence of hip, forearm, humeral, ankle, and vertebral fragility fractures in Italy: results from a 3-year multicenter study.

Introduction: We aimed to assess the incidence and hospitalization rate of hip and "minor" fragility fractures in the Italian population.

Methods: We carried out a 3-year survey at 10 major Italian emergency departments to evaluate the hospitalization rate of hip, forearm, humeral, ankle, and vertebral fragility fractures in people 45 years or older between 2004 and 2006, both men and women. These data were compared with those recorded in the national hospitalizations database (SDO) to assess the overall incidence of fragility fractures occurring at hip and other sites, including also those events not resulting in hospital admissions.