Hip fractures are common worldwide [1], with a higher incidence expected in the next few decades due to longer life expectancy and an increase in the geriatric population [2].
Some authors extrapolate a 60% increase in the prevalence of people in need of long term care assuming a moderate increase in average life expectancy within the next 30 years [ 3], and assuming a higher increase in average life expectancy the increase would be even higher [ 3, 4].
As the population and life expectancy of Hispanic Americans are expected to increase in the next few decades, there is a need to examine the characteristics of bone mass and bone microstructure in Hispanic Americans.
Even without a new high-tech "fix" for aging, the United Nations estimates that life expectancy over the next century will approach 100 years for women in the developed world and over 90 years for women in the developing world.
Life expectancy will continue to increase in the next 30 years [ 12].
With current trends, life expectancy would increase by 0.86 year in the next five years according to our projections, which means the goal of increasing life expectancy by one year could not be reached.
Regarding mortality, improvements in life expectancy are expected to be lower than those in the next, more favourable, scenario.
In fact, the current epidemic of obesity has been suggested as the leading cause for the decreased life expectancy forecast for the next generation.
In the next section, some background information of the life expectancy data and the region they stem from is given.
It is estimated that there are over 36 million people living with dementia in the world, and projections estimate that the number of affected individuals will increase quickly in the next decades following the worldwide increase in life expectancy.
