[The secondary prevention of osteoporosis needs a multidisciplinary approach]

Enormous burden for our aging population and health care system, the hip fracture remains a major challenge to public health. Every year, there are over 15.000 hip fractures in Belgium. Nonetheless of the technical progress in surgery and the follow-up for, postoperation, the morbidity linked to this affection remains important because the vast majority of the patients will not recovered their previous autonomy after the fracture. The mortality is also high. Although it represents 14 % of the total osteoporotic fractures, the hip fractures account for 92 % of the costs caused by the disease, corresponding to 150.000.000 euros per year in Belgium. The present demographic evolution suggests that this amount will increase by 7 fold in 2050. Different epidemiological studies show that a large proportion of these fractures should have been avoided if the reason of the bone fragility, osteoporosis, had been previously diagnosed and treated. In this context, since several years, an increasing number of clinical paths - the Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) - have emerged all over the world. Brugmann Hospital has decided to implement such a model - focusing, by a systematic approach, to better connection and communication between available healthcare resources.