And only 33% of non-hip-fracture and 60% of hip-fracture patients had received appropriate treatment for osteoporosis.

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In a 2003 study, another Dartmouth team, led by the internist Elliott Fisher, examined the treatment received by a million elderly Americans diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer, a hip fracture, or a heart attack.

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"The important thing is if a patient needs treatment for osteoporosis, they should get it, because the risk of mortality from a hip fracture is high, " she says.

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