The Effects Of Osteoporosis

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. What is osteoporosis exactly? Literally, osteoporosis means “porous bone”. Derived from oste/o, meaning bone, and –porosis, meaning the condition of being porous. It is an imbalance between bone resorption and bone formation. Clinically

It can affect people of every race, sex, and age; however, it is more commonly seen in postmenopausal women of white or Asian descent and individuals over the age of seventy. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, “In the United States, two million fractures are attributed to osteoporosis annually at a cost of $19 billion, with 432,000 hospital admissions, 2.5 million medical office visits, and approximately 180,000 nursing home admissions.” Osteoporosis is determined by Bone Mineral Density (BMD) testing, which uses Dual-energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) to provide a patient’s T-score. A T-score value of 2.5 points below standard is indicative of osteoporosis. For each decrease of one T-score point the risk for vertebral fracture increases by a factor of two (Bethel, 2015). Osteoporosis can be divided into two categories: primary osteoporosis and secondary osteoporosis. Primary osteoporosis includes senile osteoporosis which affects individuals over the age of seventy and postmenopausal osteoporosis which affects women generally over the age of fifty. Secondary osteoporosis is caused by an underlying disease or condition or as the result of extended use of certain medications. Women are at a much higher risk for developing primary, or idiopathic, osteoporosis, the female to male ration is 4:1. However, men are more likely to develop secondary osteoporosis generally

The likelihood of developing osteoporosis depends partly on the amount of bone mass you attained in your youth. Consider your peak bone mass as “money in the bank”, the more you have built up, the less likely you are to become deficient as you age (Mayo, 2014). Postmenopausal osteoporosis is caused by a decrease in estrogen following the cessation of the menstrual cycle. This lack of estrogen leads to an excess of bone resorption accompanied by a decrease in the quantity and quality of new bone formation. All bone cells express receptors for estrogen. Most women will lose thirty to forty percent of the cortical bone and fifty percent of the trabecular bone throughout their lifetime. The most common fractures in postmenopausal osteoporosis are of the vertebrae and distal forearm (Bethel, 2015). Senile osteoporosis is caused by skeletal aging and calcium deficiency. It is simply a slow yet progressive decrease in the performance of osteoblasts in response to the absorption rate of the osteoclasts. The most common fractures seen in senile osteoporosis are of the wrist, hip, and vertebrae (Bethel, 2015.) Secondary osteoporosis can result from a number of underlying conditions: genetic factors such as cystic fibrosis; hypogonadal states such as premature menopause or panhypopituitarism; endocrine disorders such as diabetes, hyperthyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, Cushing