Osteoporosis Case Study Summary

“Thirty-five year old Donna Duckworth is learning how to care for her newborn of five weeks, when she bends over the baby’s crib and feels something give in her back. The next day and the following week, the pain becomes unbearable in her back. She is breast-feeding and does not want to take any medication so she lives with the intense and continuing pain. Within a few weeks, she can no longer stand it so she goes to see her physician who orders blood work, does a complete physical and as a result, sends her to see an orthopedist who x-rays and does a bone density study. The diagnosis comes back as osteoporosis and it is found she has fractured three of her lumbar and four of her cervical vertebra.”

Osteoporosis, meaning porous bone from the Greek language, is bone disease that gradually and steadily wears down bone tissue and its living cells. This wearing down will eventually cause the cells of bone tissue to degrade and die, leaving their “scaffolding” to be the only things only bone together. Without living cells to take up a home in this scaffolding, minor injuries such as falls, bumping into objects, and pressure that would normally be completely and would not pose any threat to bone tissue suddenly becomes a real hazard that can easily pose a threat to one’s well-being. Osteoporosis affects a person skeletal system.

(Kling, J. M., Clarke, B. L., & Sandhu, N. P., 2014, p. 567). Osteoporosis risk factors

Osteoporosis is a major public heath treat for more than 28 million Americans, 80 percent of whom are women. In the U.S. today, 10 million individuals

There are multiple factors that can result in osteoporosis. The unpreventable risk factors include, age, race, lifestyle choices, and medical conditions or treatments. The main determining factor being age.

Some of the factors are uncontrollable, however many of the risk factors are controllable, meaning that lifestyle factors can contribute to the development of this disease. Risk factors that one cannot control include being over 50 years old, having a low body weight, being female, menopause, family history of osteoporosis, or a history of broken bones or height loss. Controllable, or modifiable, risk factors include not getting enough calcium or vitamin D, not eating enough fruits and vegetables, consuming too much protein, sodium, or caffeine, having an inactive lifestyle, smoking or alcohol use, and excessive weight

Osteoporosis is often called “the silent disease” because there are no symptoms in the early stages of bone loss. As time progresses, the bones become weak and common signs and symptoms may include loss of height, bone fracture, back pain, a stooped posture, and a humped back known as dowager’s hump or kyphosis. Most people do not know that they have osteoporosis until they have a sudden bump, strain or fall that causes a bone to fracture (Lewis, p.1635). The most common type of fracture occurs in the bones of the vertebrae, forearm, femoral neck, and proximal humerus. Differential diagnosis for osteoporosis include osteoarthritis, osteomalacia or rickets, inadequate mineralization of existing bone matrix (osteoid), multiple myeloma, metastatic cancer, paget disease of bone, renal osteodystrophy (Papadakis & McPhee, para.2).

“Most [women] reach their peak bone mass by their early 20s…and as [they] age, bone mass is lost faster than it's created” (Mayo Clinic, 2014). The more bone mass created during youth the less likely it is for osteoporosis to develop, so adequate nutrition is important. According to NIH (2014), “the daily recommendation for calcium from ages 9-18 is 1300mg and 1000mg/day thereafter. For vitamin d, it is 600IU/day after age 1” (NIH, 2014). Along with nutritional deficiencies, women who smoke, drink, and don’t exercise regularly are at higher risk for osteoporosis. Some non-behavioral risk factors include “having a family history of osteoporosis, being female, having a small frame, certain disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and anorexia nervosa; taking some medications for example glucocorticoids, gonadotropin releasing hormone, or antacids with aluminum, and menopause” (McGowan, 2012). Asian and white women are also more predisposed to having this

Many risk factors that contribute to bone loss and osteoporosis includes gender, age, size, ethnicity, and family history (Osteoporosis). Some other risk factors includes medication used, smoking, drinking, activity level, calcium and vitamin D intakes as well. Osteoporosis is known as the “silent disease”. It can be present without any symptoms because osteoporosis doesn’t cause symptoms until bone fracture. Therefore, patients may not be aware that they have the disease until they suffer a painful fracture. But some of the signs and symptoms are back pain (caused by a fractured or collapsed vertebra), loss of height over time, a stooped posture, and a broken bone that occurs much more easily than expected (Osteoporosis-Mestar). As the disease progresses, symptoms may include dull or radiating pain in the bones or muscles, curvature of the spine, pain in the abdomen and neck, cramps in the legs at night, brittle fingernails and tooth loss (Osteoporosis-Medstar). Osteoporosis has a direct relationship on oral health. It’s major impact affects the jawbone supporting the teeth. Studies show that a loss in this bone is most likely to cause tooth loss or mobility (Crowford). Because of low density of the jawbones, it leads to dental problem such as poor fitting dentures and at risk of requiring new dentures more often. The best way to handle this problem is to avoid delaying or postponing dental treatments, healthy

People have been diagnosed with different forms of osteoporosis. 100 years ago it was a health problem of a small group of people. The elder suffered from diseases that cause secondary osteoporosis; These

Osteoporosis has many direct factors that contribute to the loss of bone mass that eventually leads to the disease. Unfortunately, many of those cannot be controlled, for example, there is ethnicity, gender, age, and genetics. Over the years, it has been proven that Caucasians and Asians, develop osteoporosis because of their small stature. The thinner a person is, the more likely an individual 's bones will become weak. Also, as a person ages, the “body may reabsorb calcium and phosphate from your bones instead of keeping these minerals in your bones”. This is seen more often after the age of forty. In addition, an individual should be informed about their family history diseases, for family history is also a contributing factor. If a woman falls under any of these categories, the probability of developing osteoporosis will be very high, because research suggests that women are more likely to contract the illness. Now, circumstances that can and should be controlled include alcohol consumption, smoking, and having an eating disorder.

Osteoporosis is a devastating bone disease in which bones become porous and brittle and are more susceptible to fractures; according to Johnell O and Kanis JA (2006), “Worldwide, osteoporosis causes more than 8.9 million fractures annually, resulting in an osteoporotic fracture every 3 seconds.” Osteoporosis is the result of several factors including diet and lifestyle choices, age, disease and medications, but the underlying cause is due to bone loss occurring faster than the body can replace it.

Bone disease is a silent disorder that may lead to pain and deformity. (NCBI, paragraph 1). NCBI resources mention that1.5 million osteoporotic fractures in the U.S leads to more than half a million of hospitalizations, about 800,000 emergency room encounters, about more than 2,600,000 physician office visits, and about 180,000 individuals are placed into nursing homes. (NCBI, paragraph 2), Caring for fractures from bone disease is expensive, ranging from $12 to $18 billion per year in 2002 and will increase over the years causing individuals and their families a devastating impact. (NCBI paragraph3). Some die from bone disease, many spirals downward in their physical and mental health that result in death, especially during the first year after the fracture. (NCBI, paragraph 4). People who suffer from fractures experience severe pain, height loss, lose the ability to dress themselves, stand up, and walk causing them to be at risk of pressure sores pneumonia, and urinary tract infections. (NCBI, paragraph 5)

Osteoporosis literally means ‘porous bone’, it is a disease that weakens bones and increases the risk of sudden fractures. Quite unfair but true that women are at a greater risk for osteoporosis than men. The statistics for osteoporosis from National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease shows that in 44 million of people 68 percent of women are at a risk of osteoporosis. Women over 50 years of age have more likely to have fracture related osteoporosis in their lifetime. In all cases of hip osteoporosis 75 percent of them are women. This disease may have its root from adolescence and even childhood that is the period of bone building in your body.

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