Osteoporosis Frequently Asked Questions
What is osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis is a bone disease, characterised by thinning and weakening of the whole skeleton. Holes develop in the bone as the rate of bone destruction exceeds that of bone formation. As these holes get bigger, bone becomes fragile and liable to break easily. The whole skeleton is affected by osteoporosis, but fractures occur most commonly in the hip, wrist and spine.
What are the symptoms of osteoporosis?
Very often there are no symptoms. The first sign that someone has the disease is often that they break a bone after a minor fall, when this type of injury would not usually occur. Loss of height may also indicate osteoporosis as a result of fractures to the spine, which can be painless.
Who gets osteoporosis?
About one in three women (1) and one in 12 men are affected by osteoporosis (2).
There are several known risk factors that make a woman more likely to develop osteoporosis
1. Strong risk factors
- Oestrogen deficiency
- premature menopause (younger than 45)
- absence of periods for more that a year without an obvious cause eg pregnancy
- unexplained shrinking of the ovaries
- Corticosteroid therapy eg prednisolone at more than 7.5mg per day for one year or more
- Maternal family history of hip fracture
- Low body mass index (less than 19kg/m2)
- Other disorders associated with osteoporosis
- anorexia nervosa
- malabsorption syndromes
- over active thyroid gland
- long term renal failure
- prolonged immobilisation
- Cushing's syndrome
2. Radiographic evidence of ostopenia and/or vertebral deformity
3. Previous fragility fracture, particularly of the hip, spine or wrist
4. Loss of height
However, a woman may have none of these risk factors and still have osteoporosis.
How is osteoporosis treated?
There are now a number of effective treatments available that can help prevent fractures and increase bone mineral density (BMD) - a measure of the strength of bones and risk of fracture. These include a group of drugs called the bisphosphonates (drugs of this type include alendronate, etidronate and risedronate), hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and raloxifene.
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