Hip fracture is an important public health and personal burden, and this burden is anticipated to increase over the next several decades. Although white women experience the greatest lifetime risk of hip fracture, risk extends to men and to nonwhite populations. Bone strength, risk of falling, and individual clinical characteristics combine to affect the risk of hip fracture. Nearly $9 billion were expended in 1995 in the United States for the management of hip fractures. Hip fracture has important sequelae, including loss of bone and muscle mass. Mortality is significantly increased after hip fracture, and functional recovery is limited to less than 50% of those who fracture. About 25% of patients reside in long-term care facilities for a year or more after fracture, and the impact of hip fracture on health-related quality of life is considerable and long lasting.