While osteoporosis is treatable, it’s not curable, so early detection really is key. As it is, though, about one in two women, and one in four men over fifty will probably have an osteoporosis-related fracture. For women, in fact, the odds of suffering a hip fracture are the same as the combined odds of suffering breast, ovarian, or uterine cancer. And hip fractures, especially, are very difficult to recover from–they’re linked with a major deterioration in the person’s health, to the point that about a quarter of folks over fifty who fracture their hips don’t survive one year. Treating all those fractures adds up. In 2001, direct medical expenses related to osteoporosis, like hospitalization and nursing homes, amounted to seventeen billion dollars.