Osteoporosis, which means "porous bone," is a disease characterized by low bone mass (bone thinning) that leads to fragile bones and an increased risk of fractures of the hip, spine, and wrist. Men as well as women are affected by this condition. Osteoporosis is a disease that can be prevented and treated.
Understanding Osteoporosis and Bones
Bone is living, growing tissue. It is made mostly of collagen, a protein that provides a soft framework, and
calcium phosphate, a mineral that adds strength and hardens the framework.
This combination of collagen and calcium phosphate makes bone both flexible and strong, which, in turn, helps it withstand stress. More than 99 percent of the body's calcium is contained in the bones and teeth. The remaining 1 percent is found in the blood.
Throughout your lifetime, old bone is removed (a process called resorption) and new bone is added to the skeleton (a process called formation). During childhood and the teenage years, new bone is added faster than old bone is removed. As a result, bones become larger, heavier, and denser. Bone formation outpaces resorption until peak bone mass (maximum
bone density and strength) is reached around age 30. After that time, bone resorption slowly begins to exceed bone formation.
Osteoporosis and Fractures
A broken bone can have a serious impact on a person's life. It can cause disability, pain, or loss of independence. It can make it harder to do daily activities, such as walking, without help. This can make it harder to participate in social activities. It can also cause severe
back pain and deformity.
Osteoporosis can occur in any bone, but is most common in the hip, wrist, and spine (also called vertebrae). Vertebrae are important because these bones help the body to stand and sit upright.
Osteoporosis in the vertebrae can cause serious problems for women. A fracture in this area can occur from day-to-day activities, like climbing stairs, lifting objects, or bending forward.
- Sloping shoulders
- Curve in the back
- Height loss
- Back pain
- Hunched posture
- Protruding abdomen.
Osteoporosis in Men and Women
For women, bone loss is fastest in the first few years after
menopause, and it continues into the postmenopausal years. Osteoporosis can develop when bone resorption occurs too quickly or when bone replacement occurs too slowly. Osteoporosis is more likely to develop in women who did not reach optimal peak bone mass during their bone-building years.
Men in their 50s do not experience the same rapid loss of bone mass that women do in the years following menopause. By age 65 or 70, however, men and women lose bone mass at about the same rate, and the absorption of
calcium, an essential nutrient for
bone health throughout life, decreases in both sexes. Excessive bone loss causes bone to become fragile and more likely to fracture.
Common causes of osteoporosis include age-related bone loss (primary osteoporosis), as well as smoking, alcohol abuse, long-term corticosteroid use, and certain diseases (secondary osteoporosis). It's thought that race and ethnicity may also play a role in developing osteoporosis, but more research is needed to determine the connection.
Because routine x-rays can't detect osteoporosis until it's advanced, the most common test used for diagnosing osteoporosis is a bone mineral density test known as dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA scan). In addition to diagnosing osteoporosis, this test can predict your likelihood of fractures and determine your rate of bone loss, among other things.
Treatment for osteoporosis is often three-fold, concentrating on the areas of exercise, nutrition, and several different
osteoporosis medications. By including these three things in your osteoporosis treatment plan, you may slow down bone loss associated with the disease.
Statistics on Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is responsible for more than 1.5 million fractures annually, including:
- 300,000 hip fractures
- 700,000 vertebral (spinal) fractures
- 250,000 wrist fractures
- More than 300,000 fractures in other bones.
The rate of hip fractures is two to three times higher in women than in men; however, the one-year mortality rate following a hip fracture is nearly twice as high for men as for women (that is, twice as many men die during the first year after a hip fracture).
White women who are age 65 or older have twice the incidence of fractures as African-American women.
