There are large regional differences in the incidence of @entity173 in Germany. These differences were unexpected and do not follow a north-to-south or an east-to-west gradient. But they are of high socioeconomic importance and cannot be explained by geographic location, the age structure of the population, and only to a small extent by the regulation of specific medication. INTRODUCTION: The most important complications and the major cost factors of @entity170 are @entity174 . In order to develop strategies for @entity174 prevention, knowledge about different incidence rates and possible causes is necessary. METHODS: In order to detect persistent differences in the incidence of @entity173 between the former eastern and western states of Germany, structured diagnostic data of @entity1 hospitalized between 2000 and 2011 were used to determine the regional incidence of @entity173 in the individual federal states of Germany. To account for error due to repeated admissions and double registrations, the frequency of @entity174 was corrected by a factor of 0.89. RESULTS: Our analysis of the 10-year period from 2000 to 2011 did not confirm the difference between eastern and western Germany reported in the national literature, or the north-south gradient for Germany as reported in several European publications. We found significant differences in the incidence of @entity174 in adjacent territorial states such as Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania or Saxony and Thuringia. Particularly, high incidence rates over the entire period were noted in the city-states of Hamburg, Berlin, and Bremen. CONCLUSION: The reason for such differences is still unclear and, thus, the consequences of urbanization must be considered to explain diverse incidence rates. In general, the investigation of causes should be based on the use of a multivariate model that takes additional factors such as specific drug use, socioeconomic aspects, environmental aspects, education, and health care into account. There are large regional differences in the incidence of @entity173 in Germany. These differences were unexpected and do not follow a north-to-south or an east-to-west gradient. But they are of high socioeconomic importance and cannot be explained by geographic location, the age structure of the population and only to a small extent by the regulation of specific medication.

Are there still east-to-west differences in the incidence of XXXX in Germany?

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity173 :: ('MESH:D006620', 'Disease') :: ['hip fractures', 'hip fracture'] @entity170 :: ('MESH:D010024', 'Disease') :: ['osteoporosis'] @entity174 :: ('MESH:D050723', 'Disease') :: ['fractures', 'fracture']
@entity173 :: (MESH:D006620,Disease) :: ['hip fractures']
