Related topics: bone , bone density



Osteoporosis

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Osteoporosis is a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted, and the amount and variety of non-collagenous proteins in bone is altered. Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in women as a bone mineral density 2.5 standard deviations below peak bone mass (20-year-old healthy female average) as measured by DXA; the term "established osteoporosis" includes the presence of a fragility fracture. Osteoporosis is most common in women after menopause, when it is called postmenopausal osteoporosis, but may also develop in men, and may occur in anyone in the presence of particular hormonal disorders and other chronic diseases or as a result of medications, specifically glucocorticoids, when the disease is called steroid- or glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (SIOP or GIOP). Given its influence is the risk of fragility fracture, osteoporosis may significantly affect life expectancy and quality of life.

Osteoporosis can be prevented with lifestyle changes and sometimes medication; in people with osteoporosis, treatment may involve both. Lifestyle change includes preventing falls and exercise; medication includes calcium, vitamin D, bisphosphonates and several others. Fall-prevention advice includes exercise to tone deambulatory muscles, proprioception-improvement exercises; equilibrium therapies may be included. Exercise with its anabolic effect, may at the same time stop or reverse osteoporosis.

For more information about Osteoporosis, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with osteoporosis

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Skull bone may hold the key to tackling osteoporosis

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 19, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have uncovered fundamental differences between the bone which makes up the skull and the bones in our limbs, which they believe could hold the key to tackling bone weakness and ...


Impact of cannabis on bones changes with age, study finds

Medicine & Health / Research

created Aug 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 1

Scientists investigating the effects of cannabis on bone health have found that its impact varies dramatically with age.


Elderly women with 'dowager's hump' may be at higher risk of earlier death

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created May 21, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Hyperkyphosis, or "dowager's hump" -- the exaggerated forward curvature of the upper spine seen commonly in elderly women -- may predict earlier death in women whether or not they have vertebral osteoporosis, ...


Dental researchers ID new target in fight against osteoporosis, periodontitis

Dental researchers ID new target in fight against osteoporosis, periodontitis

Medicine & Health / Research

created May 19, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Osteoporosis and periodontitis are common diseases whose sufferers must cope with weakness, injury and reduced function as they lose bone more quickly than it is formed. While the mechanism ...


Health Tip: Are Vitamin Supplements Worthwhile or Not?

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 16, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (11) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- You may be wondering at this point whether to toss those vitamins into your mouth or into the trash. That's not surprising since several recent reports have called the value of vitamins into question, leaving ...


Researchers uncover benefits of aspirin for treating osteoporosis

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jul 09, 2008 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Researchers at the University of Southern California, School of Dentistry have uncovered the health benefits of aspirin in the fight against osteoporosis. Forty-four million Americans, 68 percent of whom are women, suffer ...


A RANK insider resolving the enigma of the fever chart

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Mammals have evolved a complex system for controlling bone remodeling. Babies require calcium for healthy bones and they obtain it from their mother's milk. Nursing mothers release calcium from their bones. Surprisingly, ...


New link found between osteoporosis and coeliac disease

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Oct 07, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

People with coeliac disease may develop osteoporosis because their immune system attacks their bone tissue, a new study has shown.


Buyer beware: Estrogen supplements not as effective as claimed

Buyer beware: Estrogen supplements not as effective as claimed

Medicine & Health / Other

created Sep 02, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Dietary supplements claiming to help postmenopausal women with bone health may not be doing what they say, according to new research from Purdue University.


Osteoporosis drug may save lives by strengthening immune system

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Jul 15, 2009 | popularity 2 / 5 (2) | comments 0

An osteoporosis drug proven to save lives after hip fractures may do so by strengthening the body's immune system, according to geriatrics researchers at Duke University Medical Center.


Study reveals bone coupling factor key to skeletal health (w/ Video)

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jul 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have discovered a molecular coupling factor that helps bones grow and remodel themselves to stay strong, a finding that could lead to better bone-building therapies ...


Scientists discover way to jumpstart bone's healing process

Medicine & Health / Research

created Apr 14, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Rarely will physicians use the word "miraculous" when discussing patient recoveries. But that's the very phrase orthopaedic physicians and scientists are using in upstate New York to describe their emerging stem cell research ...


Stem cells could halt osteoporosis, promote bone growth

Medicine & Health / Research

created Mar 04, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

While interferon gamma sounds like an outer space weapon, it's actually a hormone produced by our own bodies, and it holds great promise to repair bones affected by osteoporosis. In a new study published in the journal Stem Ce ...


Study identifies causes of bone loss in breast cancer survivors

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Nov 19, 2008 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Osteoporosis is a growing concern among breast cancer survivors and their doctors, because certain cancer drugs can cause bone loss.


NICE guidelines ration affordable osteoporosis drugs

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Dec 11, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC (December 11, 2009) - Low cost osteoporosis drugs are strictly rationed for the under 75s, and UK physicians hampered by restrictive guidelines, according to findings ...