Fig. 2. Association between bone loss and fracture incidence.

(a) Cortical and trabecular bone loss in different age groups as shown by Zebaze et al. [20]. Early bone loss occurs in the trabecular bone, but with increasing age the bone loss becomes mainly cortical. (b) Incidence of osteoporotic hip and vertebral compression fractures in different age groups in Switzerland as shown by Svedbom et al. [21]. Vertebral compression fractures are more common in individuals aged less than 65 years. With increasing cortical bone loss after the age of 65 years, hip fractures become the most frequent entity.