Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is marked by a decreased bone volume. Loss of spongy ("cancellous") bone is greater than

The management of osteoporosis patients start with the diagnosis by rolling out secondary causes and then confirm it by measuring bone mineral density (BMD). After that, begin the treatment with lifestyle changes, pharmacological medications, and surgery for some fractures if needed. In this essay I will cover generally the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of osteoporosis in five steps.

There are different laboratory tests that can be ran by doctors that helps in diagnosing osteoporosis. These tests are run with samples of blood and urine from the patient. Some of the tests are blood calcium levels, 24-hour urine calcium measurement, thyroid function tests, parathyroid hormone levels, testosterone levels in men, 25-hydroxyvitamin D test to determine whether the body had enough vitamin D, and biochemical marker tests, such as NTX and CTX (NOF, 2010).

Osteoporosis is a disorder of bones that affects bones making them low in bone mass fragile and will lead to bone fracture. Bone fracture will easily occur as this disease cause the matrix inside the bone become weak and brittle.Bones can become so brittle due to activities such as coughing can cause fractures.According to Macgill (2015) the origin of the word osteoporosis explain the condition of ‘osteo’ is for bone and ‘porosis’ means porous that resulting in weakness. At this condition, the bone tissue is mineralized normally, but the production is not enough to preserve the normal skeletal architecture. 80% of women and 20% men of 28 million American are affected with the osteoporosis. Approximately, women with the age of 50 will develop osteoporosis. Thin bones are the cause of 1.5 million fractures a year. As in Malaysia, the statistic shows that osteoporosis related to fractured is the common health problem especially in elderly..

As generally stated in the introduction, osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder that involves the strength and integrity of one’s bones. The WHO defines osteoporosis as, “a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low-bone mass, deterioration of bone tissue, increased bone fragility, and its susceptibly to recurrent fractures.” 2 The most important factor to take into account when addressing osteoporosis is the mass of bone, also referred to as, bone mineral density (BMD). As bone mass begins to decline, typically in the older population, specifically postmenopausal women, individuals are at an increased risk for fractures.3 As a result of this serious condition, many people are affected by morbidity, mortality, and economic difficulty.1

Sir Astley Paston Cooper was a famous English physician, anatomist, and surgeon who first discovered the association between fractures and bone density reduction because of aging which created the base for discovering Osteoporosis. Another person who helped with the discovery of osteoporosis was Jean Lobstein. Around 1833, Lobstein was the first person to medically describe the pathological condition and appearance of Osteoporosis. He described the condition as, “One with holes in the bone associated with fragility”. He was also the one who named the disease. Another important discovery of the disease is the relationship between osteoporosis with the postmenopausal state, which was discovered by Fuller Albright. Albright discovered that there is a direct relationship between the lack of estrogen after menopause and the development of osteoporosis. After menopause, bone breakdown outrun the building of new bone. Early menopause, usually before the age of 45, and any prolonged period in which hormone levels are low and menstrual

Osteoporosis is a disease in which bone tissue is normally mineralized but the mass of bone is decreased and structural integrity of trabecular bone is impaired. Cortical bone becomes more porous and thinner, making bone weaker and prone to fractures. The World Health Organization (WHO)(1994) has defines postmenopausal osteoporosis abased on the bone density. Bone density is based on the number of standard deviations away from the mean bone mineral density of a young adult reference population, a T-score. Normal bone mass density is 0 to -.99 standard deviations, low bone density (osteopenia) is -1.0 to -2.49 standard deviations, osteoporosis is labeled as less than or equal to 2.5 standard deviations, and severe osteoporosis is less than or equal to 2.5 standard deviations and included a bone fracture.

Osteoporosis is a degenerative disease of the bones generally brought on by the process of aging, unfortunately there can also be a number of underlying or secondary causes; however, preventative care and drug treatments can minimize the severity of this prevalent disease. Osteoporosis has been estimated to affect more than 200 million people worldwide (Bethel, 2015). According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, 9.9 million Americans have osteoporosis and an additional 43.1 million have low bone density.

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

Osteoporosis is an age related disorder, more common in females compared to males. Osteoporosis is defined as a “skeletal disorder characterized by compromised bone strength predisposing to increased risk of fractures (Manolagaas, 2014). Osteoporosis is defined as “a disease characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue (What is osteoporosis?2014). Osteoporosis is sometimes also referred as “silent thief” as the bone loss occurs very slowly and silently without any symptoms (Osteoporosis facts & statistics.2014). The most common site for fracture due to osteoporosis is hip followed by humerus (Woltman & den Hoed, 2010) . Osteoporosis can occur at any age, although it is a disorder common in females (especially post-menopausal females). Everyone is prone to osteoporosis (Osteoporosis facts & statistics.2014). According to Osteoporosis Canada, 1 in 3 Canadian females and 1 in 5 Canadian males may suffer fractures due to osteoporosis during their lifetime (Osteoporosis facts & statistics.2014). Canadian health care system spends 1.2 billion dollars for the acute hospitalization caused by osteoporosis and in 2010 the health care system spent 3.9 billion dollars for the total treatment of osteoporosis (Osteoporosis facts & statistics.2014). Osteoporosis can be screened and diagnosed by various methods; however the dual energy x ray absorptiometry (DXA) is commonly used. If the T-score values are less than -1 and greater than -2.5SD it is termed as osteopenia,

During the later years, osteoporosis becomes apparent but develops a lot earlier without any warning. The bone has two compartments, which include the cortical bone and the trabecular bone. The cortical bone is the very dense bone tissue that forms the outer shell, whereas the trabecular bone is the

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.[1] 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

Osteoporosis is a condition that causes bone loss over time. This means that your bones become less dense. The open spaces inside your bones get bigger, and the walls between these spaces become thinner. Osteoporosis means "porous bones."

People over 40 and up must go to see the doctor to check the status of bones. Dentists can also diagnose a state of osteoporosis when they check the teeth and jaw by x-ray. The best diagnosis according to Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 4th Edition: “A bone mineral density test (BMD) is the only way to diagnose osteoporosis and determine risk for future fracture” (p 2459). Also, osteoporosis is diagnosed using "Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry" (DEXA), a technique that can measure bone density

The DXA-method has also been applied for mea¬surements of peripheral locations, such as the heel and distal radius. The choice to investigate the forearm can give an information on the possibility to have a wrist fracture and can be performed when evaluation of other sites is unfeasible; similarly, calcaneus measurements are particularly predictive of spine fractures (22) even if the WHO criterion for osteoporosis diagnosis (T score ≤ -2.5) is not applicable to the calcaneus. Anyway, since there is only a moderate correlation between the periph¬eral and axial BMD (r = 0.5-0.6), it has been estimated that over 40% of the patients investigated at peripheral bone sites would need an additional referral to the axial DXA measurement (23). It has been shown that the most reliable prediction of future