Tag Archives: silent disease

Osteoporosis Awareness

General Facts

  • Osteoporosis is a disease of the bone that makes a person’s bones weak and more likely to break. Approximately 9 million Americans have osteoporosis and another 43 million have low bone density, placing them at increased risk.
  • This means that nearly 60% of adults age 50 and older are at risk of breaking a bone and should be concerned about bone health.
  • One in two women and up to one in four men will break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis. For women, the incidence is greater than that of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer combined.
  • There is no cure for osteoporosis, but there are steps you can take to prevent, slow or stop its progress. Diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle are keys to preventing and managing the disease.
  • NOF recommends five steps to improve bone health and prevent osteoporosis:
    1. Get the calcium and vitamin D you need every day.
    2. Do regular weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises.
    3. Don’t smoke and don’t drink too much alcohol.
    4. Talk to your healthcare provider about your chance of getting osteoporosis and ask when you should have a bone density test.
    5. Take an osteoporosis medication when it’s right for you.

About Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease of the bone.

  • Osteoporosis is often called a “silent disease” because you cannot feel your bones getting weaker.
  • You may not even know you have osteoporosis until after you break a bone.

Osteoporosis is serious, even deadly.

  • A woman’s risk of hip fracture is equal to her combined risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer.
  • A man is more likely to break a bone due to osteoporosis than he is to get prostate cancer.
  • 24 percent of hip fracture patients age 50 and over die in the year following the fracture.
  • Six months after a hip fracture, only 15 percent of patients can walk across a room unaided.
  • Every year, of nearly 300,000 hip fracture patients, one-quarter end up in nursing homes and half never regain previous function

Osteoporosis is costly.

  • Osteoporosis-related bone breaks cost patients, their families and the healthcare system $19 billion annually.
  • By 2025, experts predict that osteoporosis will be responsible for three million fractures resulting in $25.3 billion in costs.

Osteoporosis is preventable.

  • About 85-90 percent of adult bone mass is acquired by age 18 in girls and 20 in boys.
  • Building strong bones during childhood and adolescence can help prevent osteoporosis later in life.
  • NOF recommends five steps to improve bone health and prevent osteoporosis:
    1. Get the calcium and vitamin D you need every day.
    2. Do regular weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises.
    3. Don’t smoke and don’t drink too much alcohol.
    4. Talk to your healthcare provider about your chance of getting osteoporosis and ask when you should have a bone density test.
    5. Take an osteoporosis medication when it’s right for you.

Osteoporosis is manageable.

  • Although there is no cure for osteoporosis, there are steps you can take to prevent, slow or stop its progress. Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly can help slow or stop the loss of bone mass and help prevent fractures.
  • About half of osteoporosis-related repeat fractures can be prevented with appropriate treatment.
  • A bone density test is the best way to diagnose osteoporosis and determine a treatment plan. If your T-score is-2.5 or lower, indicating that you have osteoporosis, or if you have other significant risk factors for breaking a bone, talk to your healthcare provider about starting an osteoporosis treatment plan that includes taking an osteoporosis medicine.
  • In choosing an osteoporosis medication, be sure to discuss the risks and benefits of all treatment options with your healthcare provider to determine which treatment plan is best for you.
  • In order for your medicine to work, it’s important to exercise regularly an make sure you get the recommended amount of calcium and vitamin D every day from food and supplements.
  • Once you start taking an osteoporosis medicine, your bone density test by central DXA should be repeated at least every two years to monitor its effects. After starting a new osteoporosis medicine, many healthcare providers will repeat a bone density test after one year.

Osteoporosis Awareness

Osteoporosis Awareness 2014
General Facts

  • Osteoporosis is a disease of the bone that makes a person’s bones weak and more likely to break. Approximately 9 million Americans have osteoporosis and another 43 million have low bone density, placing them at increased risk.
  • This means that nearly 60% of adults age 50 and older are at risk of breaking a bone and should be concerned about bone health.
  • One in two women and up to one in four men will break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis. For women, the incidence is greater than that of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer combined.
  • There is no cure for osteoporosis, but there are steps you can take to prevent, slow or stop its progress. Diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle are keys to preventing and managing the disease.
  • NOF recommends five steps to improve bone health and prevent osteoporosis:
    1. Get the calcium and vitamin D you need every day.
    2. Do regular weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises.
    3. Don’t smoke and don’t drink too much alcohol.
    4. Talk to your healthcare provider about your chance of getting osteoporosis and ask when you should have a bone density test.
    5. Take an osteoporosis medication when it’s right for you.

About Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease of the bone.

  • Osteoporosis is often called a “silent disease” because you cannot feel your bones getting weaker.
  • You may not even know you have osteoporosis until after you break a bone.

Osteoporosis is serious, even deadly.

  • A woman’s risk of hip fracture is equal to her combined risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer.
  • A man is more likely to break a bone due to osteoporosis than he is to get prostate cancer.
  • 24 percent of hip fracture patients age 50 and over die in the year following the fracture.
  • Six months after a hip fracture, only 15 percent of patients can walk across a room unaided.
  • Every year, of nearly 300,000 hip fracture patients, one-quarter end up in nursing homes and half never regain previous function

Osteoporosis is costly.

  • Osteoporosis-related bone breaks cost patients, their families and the healthcare system $19 billion annually.
  • By 2025, experts predict that osteoporosis will be responsible for three million fractures resulting in $25.3 billion in costs.

Osteoporosis is preventable.

  • About 85-90 percent of adult bone mass is acquired by age 18 in girls and 20 in boys.
  • Building strong bones during childhood and adolescence can help prevent osteoporosis later in life.
  • NOF recommends five steps to improve bone health and prevent osteoporosis:
    1. Get the calcium and vitamin D you need every day.
    2. Do regular weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises.
    3. Don’t smoke and don’t drink too much alcohol.
    4. Talk to your healthcare provider about your chance of getting osteoporosis and ask when you should have a bone density test.
    5. Take an osteoporosis medication when it’s right for you.

Osteoporosis is manageable.

  • Although there is no cure for osteoporosis, there are steps you can take to prevent, slow or stop its progress. Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly can help slow or stop the loss of bone mass and help prevent fractures.
  • About half of osteoporosis-related repeat fractures can be prevented with appropriate treatment.
  • A bone density test is the best way to diagnose osteoporosis and determine a treatment plan. If your T-score is-2.5 or lower, indicating that you have osteoporosis, or if you have other significant risk factors for breaking a bone, talk to your healthcare provider about starting an osteoporosis treatment plan that includes taking an osteoporosis medicine.
  • In choosing an osteoporosis medication, be sure to discuss the risks and benefits of all treatment options with your healthcare provider to determine which treatment plan is best for you.
  • In order for your medicine to work, it’s important to exercise regularly an make sure you get the recommended amount of calcium and vitamin D every day from food and supplements.
  • Once you start taking an osteoporosis medicine, your bone density test by central DXA should be repeated at least every two years to monitor its effects. After starting a new osteoporosis medicine, many healthcare providers will repeat a bone density test after one year.