Advances in the Evaluation and Treatment of Osteoporosis—Is There an Optimal Regimen?
Advances in the Evaluation and Treatment of Osteoporosis—Is There an Optimal Regimen?
US Endocrinology Volume 4 Issue 1
Published: November 2009
Published: November 2009
Osteoporosis is skeletal disorder characterized by microarchitectural deterioration of bone and compromised bone strength, which predisposes to fractures.1 It is estimated that 33.6 million Americans have bone loss, and of these 10 million have established osteoporosis.2 At an annual rate of 1.5 million fractures, the incidence of vertebral fractures is greater than that of breast cancer, stroke, and heart attack.2–4 The majority of afflicted persons are women, who have a 50% risk for fracture throughout their lifetime.5 However, approximately 20% of diagnosed cases are males.2
Advances in Evaluation
Osteoporosis is diagnosed through various techniques, and the gold standard is the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan. DXA scans measure bone density in the spine, hip, and peripheral sites such as the radius or heel. The World Health Organization (WHO) criteria define normal bone density as a T score of between -1 and +1, low bone mass or osteopenia as a T score between -2.5 and -1, and osteoporosis as a T score -2.5 or lower. An individual with a history of a fragility fracture is considered osteoporotic regardless of the T score.
As the world’s population ages, the economic burden of the disease continues to increase for the US and other countries.6 In the past 10–15 years, advances in both the diagnosis and treatment of this disease have led to some progress in controlling the burden of the disease and its complications, but there is still a lot to be accomplished.
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Keywords:
Osteoporosis, bone loss,
Osteoporosis, bone loss,
