Who Does Osteoporosis Affect?

May is Nation­al Osteo­poro­sis Month, a great time to set the record straight about this debil­i­tat­ing and poten­tial­ly dead­ly dis­ease. While it’s the most com­mon type of bone dis­ease, mis­un­der­stand­ing exists about who can suf­fer from it and what can be done to pre­vent it.

Let’s start with some osteo­poro­sis quick facts:

• A wom­an’s risk of bone frac­ture is equal to her risk of breast, uter­ine and ovar­i­an can­cer combined.
• A man is more like­ly to break a bone due to osteo­poro­sis than he is of get­ting prostate cancer.
• Six months after a hip frac­ture, only 15 per­cent of patients are able to walk inde­pen­dent­ly across a room.
• 24 per­cent of patients with a hip frac­ture over age 50 die in the year fol­low­ing the fracture.
• ¹⁄₃ of patients who frac­ture a hip will frac­ture the oth­er hip with­in 18 months if they are not treat­ed for osteoporosis
• Frac­ture of a bone over the age of 50 increas­es the risk of anoth­er fracture
• Osteo­poro­sis is a​“silent” dis­ease; often the first symp­tom is a frac­ture, which makes ear­ly detec­tion and pre­ven­tion very important!

Despite the enor­mous health impact on so many peo­ple, this con­di­tion often goes undi­ag­nosed or untreat­ed. Here we look at some com­mon mis­con­cep­tions for this disease.

Do only women need to wor­ry about osteoporosis?

While women are more pre­dis­posed to get­ting osteo­poro­sis than men, it is a dis­ease com­mon­ly found in men. One in two women and up to one in four men over the age of 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis.

Do only old peo­ple get osteoporosis?

Young peo­ple with cer­tain dis­eases or who are tak­ing cer­tain med­ica­tions are also at risk. Celi­ac dis­ease, rheuma­toid arthri­tis and oth­er autoim­mune dis­eases, low testos­terone, ear­ly menopause, eat­ing dis­or­ders, and endocrine con­di­tions like thy­roid and parathy­roid dis­ease are a few of the con­di­tions that can con­tribute to ear­ly osteo­poro­sis. Med­ica­tions for acid reflux, seizures, prostate and breast can­cer and steroids among oth­ers can also cause osteo­poro­sis at a younger age.

Is osteo­poro­sis a nor­mal part of aging?

This dis­ease is NOT a nor­mal part of aging! It’s a seri­ous dis­ease that caus­es bro­ken bones, suf­fer­ing, pain and life-alter­ing, even debil­i­tat­ing, loss of mobil­i­ty that can be treat­ed. Sad­ly, near­ly 80 per­cent of old­er Amer­i­cans who suf­fer a bone break aren’t test­ed or treat­ed for osteoporosis.

Can I pre­vent osteoporosis?

Yes, you can pre­vent osteo­poro­sis, and the younger you start, the less like­ly you are to suf­fer from the dis­ease. Eat­ing foods rich in cal­ci­um and Vit­a­min D, exer­cis­ing reg­u­lar­ly and avoid­ing smok­ing and heavy alco­hol use can help pre­vent osteoporosis.

Can osteo­poro­sis be treat­ed and can frac­tures be prevented?

Yes, in addi­tion to opti­miz­ing diet and exer­cis­ing, treat­ment with osteo­poro­sis med­ica­tions can help to sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce your risk of frac­ture. Frac­ture risk can be reduced by up to 73% with some med­ica­tions and bone den­si­ty and strength can be increased. 

Do osteo­poro­sis med­ica­tions cause fractures?

Osteo­poro­sis med­ica­tions are very safe and effec­tive when used appro­pri­ate­ly. Your med­ical provider can dis­cuss safe­ty and effi­ca­cy with you if he/​she feels you would ben­e­fit from med­ica­tion for osteoporosis.

There’s no doubt about it, osteo­poro­sis is a seri­ous and debil­i­tat­ing con­di­tion. But there are things you can do now to pre­vent the devel­op­ment of this dis­ease, or, if you have osteo­poro­sis, you can start tak­ing steps to reduce your risk of fur­ther frac­tures and bone den­si­ty loss.

Talk to your provider if you feel you are at risk for osteo­poro­sis. They may refer you to our Bone Health Clin­ic where we can con­duct a com­pre­hen­sive bone health eval­u­a­tion, inves­ti­gate poten­tial caus­es for poor bone qual­i­ty, and devel­op a per­son­al­ized plan of care. Learn more about our Bone Health Clin­ic or call your provider to see if you are a refer­ral candidate.