How common are bone fractures due to weak bones?

Bone weakening, or osteopenia and its more severe form, osteoporosis, affects more than 25 million Americans. It is the major underlying cause of hip fractures and bone breaks in the elderly. Approximately 1.35 million bone fractures, including 300,000 hip fractures and 700,000 fractures of the vertebrae of the spine are caused annually by osteoporosis weakened bones coupled with a fall which stresses the weakened bone. Although osteoporosis affects women disproportionately, especially small-boned women of Northern European or Asian descent, we are all at risk. More than twenty million women have this disease, but so do more than four million men. Also, as more men live longer, they are at a higher risk of osteoporosis.