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.