Royal Osteoporosis Society urges Britons to check bone health risk

The Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) has released polling data showing that almost 80% of UK adults have taken no steps to assess their bone health, launching an awareness push ahead of World Osteoporosis Day on 20 October. The charity's "Know Your Risk" campaign centres on a free three-minute digital tool, the Great British Bone Check, aimed at people aged over 50 and anyone with identifiable risk factors.

The figures, gathered via YouGov surveys conducted between 2024 and 2026, paint a picture of widespread underawareness. Osteoporosis is estimated to affect more than 3.5 million people in the UK and is responsible for roughly 550,000 broken bones each year, at a cost the ROS puts at over £4.5 billion to the NHS and social care. Approximately one in two women and one in five men over the age of 50 will sustain an osteoporotic fracture during their lifetime.

Awareness gaps remain wide

A YouGov poll of 2,069 adults carried out in August 2026 found that 49% of UK adults who had heard of osteoporosis were nonetheless unsure of its risk factors. A separate 2024 survey found that only 28% of respondents recognised family history, specifically a parent's hip fracture, as a meaningful risk signal, even though hereditary factors are well-established in the clinical literature.

Other recognised risk factors cited by the ROS include early menopause, long-term corticosteroid use, certain cancer treatments, coeliac disease, low body weight, smoking, and inadequate intake of calcium and vitamin D. Because bone density loss typically produces no symptoms until a fracture occurs, the condition has long been characterised as a silent disease, a framing the charity is using to drive home the case for proactive screening.

Julia Thomson, Specialist Osteoporosis Nurse at the ROS, said: "Many people assume osteoporosis is simply an inevitable part of getting older, but that's not the case. The problem is that osteoporosis is often called a silent condition because there are usually no symptoms until a bone breaks. That's why it's so important to know your risk before that happens."

Policy and clinical context

The campaign arrives at a point of sustained policy attention on fracture prevention in the UK. NICE guidance on osteoporosis encourages opportunistic risk assessment in primary care using validated tools such as FRAX and QFracture, yet implementation has been uneven, with fracture liaison services underfunded or absent in a number of NHS trusts. The ROS has been a consistent advocate for expanding these services, arguing that earlier identification of high-risk patients reduces downstream costs associated with hip fractures, which carry significant morbidity and mortality in older adults.

The pharmaceutical landscape for osteoporosis has broadened appreciably in recent years. Beyond established bisphosphonates, bone-anabolic agents including romosozumab and teriparatide are available for high-risk patients, and a number of companies are exploring next-generation approaches targeting the RANK-L pathway and bone formation mechanisms. Greater public awareness could, in principle, expand the diagnosed population and widen the addressable market for these therapies, though the ROS campaign is positioned as a public health initiative rather than a commercial one.

The Great British Bone Check is accessible via the ROS website and returns an instant risk indication, signposting users to their GP if further assessment is warranted. The charity is targeting adults over 50 in particular, given that bone density peaks around age 30 and declines progressively thereafter, with the rate of decline accelerating in women around the menopause.