Osteoporosis

What is osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a disease in which the bone loses some of its content of calcium , resulting in a more fragile bones susceptible to spontaneous or small accidents like falls minor fractures and sprains.

It can diagnose osteoporosis when fractures occur or when the disease is still asymptomatic. In this case it is necessary to measure the amount of bone mineral content by densitometry .

The frequency of the disease increases with age and rarely occurs before age 55. Women are affected more often than men. In people with osteoporosis fractures occur primarily in the spine at the height of the back, wrists and neck of the femur (hip bone). Every year occur in Spain 33,000 cases of hip fracture due to osteoporosis. This disease can be prevented with a healthy lifestyle, a diet rich in calcium supplements and vitamin D and, in the case of women, hormone replacement therapy using estrogen after menopause . Because the most dangerous fractures are almost always the result of a fall, the fall prevention is critical. Osteoporosis is a chronic disease but there is medication to increase the calcium content of the bones and reduce the risk of new fractures.

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Why appears osteoporosis?

It is unknown why the spontaneous loss of bone mass, which begins at thirty in some people, is more intense than others and produce osteoporosis. There may be hereditary factors or be the result of not having made sufficient bone in youth, or be caused by a sedentary life or too little calcium in the diet (milk products).

Osteoporosis associated with early menopause (before 45 years), smoking , drinking alcohol, some chronic diseases ( rheumatoid arthritis , asthma , bowel disease and Cushing's syndrome) . The prolonged corticosteroid (prednisone, cortisone) treatment may increase the risk of osteoporosis if the dose exceeds 7.5 mg per day. Unfortunately, in the treatment of some chronic diseases is inevitable use of corticosteroids.

Of interest

We suggest reading some articles relacioandos:

• Osteoporosis Treatment
• Osteoporosis: Preventing falls
• Menopause: alternative treatments to HRT
• Bone densitometry in determining osteoporosis

What are the symptoms of osteoporosis?

Many people have bone pain, often in the back and buttocks, but may not have any symptoms until a fracture occurs, thus decreasing bone mass alone does not cause symptoms. The most common fractures in people with osteoporosis affect the wrists, the vertebrae and hip. In people who have vertebral compression stooped posture (kyphosis) with loss of body size occurs, and ribs can come into contact with the pelvis causing a decrease in the chest cavity and painful breathing.

What are the warning signs?

• The occurrence of spontaneous fractures or minimal trauma, for example a slight drop.
• A click on the back (caused by vertebral) with severe pain flare-ups.
• Early menopause.
• Low body weight, smoking and a history of osteoporosis in the family.
• Prolonged treatment with corticosteroids (such as prednisone) and other drugs that can cause bone calcium loss.
• The presence of diseases that may be associated with osteoporosis (eg rheumatoid arthritis ).

How can you prevent osteoporosis?

The following table summarizes the daily recommendations for vitamin D intake and optimal calcium defined in the Consensus Conference of the National Institute of Health in the United States.

A simple rule is to try adults consume 1,000 mg of calcium a day (for example, 2 cups of yogurt or milk and 100 gr. Of cheese). After menopause, osteoporosis experts recommend a dose of 1200-1500 mg of calcium daily. The same amount should take the people who are being treated with corticosteroids.

The people who do not like dairy products or allergy to them should take calcium supplements. At present there are in the market different calcium preparations, some in combination with vitamin D. The amount of calcium in tablets to be taken depends on the intake of dairy products. Calcium supplements should be taken with meals combined in 2 or 3 doses a day.

Vitamin D is found in fish oil, canned canned fish such as herring, sardines, salmon and mackerel, and also can be synthesized in the skin by sunlight. In the summer the elderly should be advised sun at least half an hour a day, and in the winter regularly consume fatty fish (sardines, anchovies, mackerel). If this is not done, a supplement of 10 micrograms vitamin D (400 units) is required.

Most experts in the field of osteoporosis recommended that people who suffer take 600 units (40 micrograms) of vitamin D daily, and calcium supplements are also recommended.

Avoid smoking and alcohol. The annual loss of bone mass is doubled in smokers than non-smokers. You can blame the snuff of one in six hip fractures.

It should consider treatment with estrogenic hormones in women, particularly if they have had early menopause.

It is beneficial and highly recommended to exercise for 30 minutes at least 3 times a week.

It is important to adapt the home and lifestyle change to prevent falls. One in twenty falls within the home produces fractures and of these, one in five is a hip fracture.

• Get plenty of exercise throughout life.
• Following a diet with adequate calcium and vitamin D .

How is osteoporosis diagnosed?

When a fracture occurs with minimal trauma it is the most frequent cause osteoporosis and densitometry is not necessary. If the patient has not suffered fractures you need to perform a bone density test (to measure bone mineral density) to dignosticar osteoporosis. In this case it is better to perform densitometry in the lumbar spine and hip in the forearm.

Even in times when the scan is not necessary (when there are previous fractures) must perform a physical examination and blood tests to ensure that the cause of fractures is osteoporosis, since there are other diseases that can also cause fractures and loss of bone calcium and require different treatments that are used in osteoporosis. For example, various cancers, vitamin deficiency diseases or bone marrow may cause bone fractures. However, osteoporosis is the most common cause of fractures.

The future

When there is a fracture caused by osteoporosis, the risk of a new bone fracture is more than double that of normal people, but varies according to the calcium content of the bones and the risk of falls. In addition to the pain and disability caused by fractures in any bone, the femur neck fractures (hip) are particularly acute for lead statistically significant mortality.