Osteoporosis

Calcium supplements linked to longer lifespans in women

Taking a calcium supplement of up to 1,000 mg per day can help women live longer, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

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Rethinking treatment goals improves results for 'untreatable' anorexics

(Medical Xpress)—Patients with the most severe and dangerous form of chronic anorexia are more likely to make a significant improvement towards recovery and stay in therapy if traditional psychological treatments are re-focused ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Promising treatment for progeria within reach

Pharmaceuticals that inhibit a specific enzyme may be useful in treating progeria, or accelerated aging in children. A new study performed at the Sahlgrenska Academy indicates that the development of progeria ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 16, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New osteoporosis drug combination outperforms current alternatives

A combination of two FDA-approved osteoporosis drugs with different mechanisms of action was found to increase bone density better than treatment with either drug alone in a small clinical trial. As reported in paper receiving ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 14, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Primary care physicians vital to complete care of prostate cancer patients

Androgen deprivation therapy is a common and effective treatment for advanced prostate cancer. However, among other side-effects, it can cause significant bone thinning in men on long-term treatment. A new study¹ by Vahakn ...

Cancer created May 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Gene discoveries give hope against 'Brittle bone' disease

(HealthDay)—Mutations in a gene involved in bone development appear to cause certain severe forms of bone loss, a finding that could lead to new therapies for the common bone-thinning disorder osteoporosis, ...

Genetics created May 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Rethinking treatment goals improves results for those with persistent anorexia

A new, multinational randomized clinical trial has found that patients with severe and enduring anorexia nervosa will not only stick with treatments but also make significant improvements with just a slight modification of ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 08, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Scientists find potential therapeutic target for Cushing's disease

Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a protein that drives the formation of pituitary tumors in Cushing's disease, a development that may give clinicians a therapeutic target to treat this ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 07, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study finds increase in fall-related traumatic brain injuries among elderly men and women

"Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of hospitalization, disability, and death-worldwide, and among older adults, falling is the most common cause of TBI," writes Niina Korhonen, B.M., of the Injury and Osteoporosis ...

Health created May 07, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Physical exercise in the fight against osteoporosis

Montserrat Otero, PhD holder in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, has designed a physical exercise programme which is based on very basic, rudimentary materials and which ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 06, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Teriparatide injections improve pedicle bone quality

(HealthDay)—Daily injection of teriparatide significantly reduces the incidence of pedicle screw (PS) loosening at one year following surgery to correct degenerative spondylolisthesis in osteoporotic postmenopausal ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 02, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Zoledronic acid linked to early increase in sclerostin levels

(HealthDay)—Women with postmenopausal osteoporosis treated with zoledronic acid show an early increase in serum levels of the negative regulator of bone formation, sclerostin, that return close to baseline ...

Medications created Apr 29, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers increase the success rate of tooth implants

Elderly or people with osteoporosis, smokers, diabetics or people who have had cancer are sometimes not eligible to receive dental implants as their bones are unable to correctly integrate the new prostheses which replace ...

Dentistry created Apr 29, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers discover mushrooms can provide as much vitamin D as supplements

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered that eating mushrooms containing Vitamin D2 can be as effective at increasing and maintaining vitamin D levels (25–hydroxyvitamin D) as taking ...

Health created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

New review sets international standards for best practice in fracture liaison services

Fragility fractures due to osteoporosis are a major cause of disability or premature death in older adults. Those at highest risk are patients who have already suffered one fragility fracture; they are at twice the risk of ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Osteoporosis ("porous bones", from Greek: οστούν/ostoun meaning "bone" and πόρος/poros meaning "pore") is a disease of bones that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, bone microarchitecture deteriorates, and the amount and variety of proteins in bone is altered. Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a bone mineral density that is 2.5 standard deviations or more below the mean peak bone mass (average of young, healthy adults) as measured by DXA; the term "established osteoporosis" includes the presence of a fragility fracture. The disease may be classified as primary type 1, primary type 2, or secondary. The form of osteoporosis most common in women after menopause is referred to as primary type 1 or postmenopausal osteoporosis. Primary type 2 osteoporosis or senile osteoporosis occurs after age 75 and is seen in both females and males at a ratio of 2:1. Finally, secondary osteoporosis may arise at any age and affect men and women equally. This form of osteoporosis results from chronic predisposing medical problems or disease, or prolonged use of medications such as glucocorticoids, when the disease is called steroid- or glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (SIOP or GIOP).

Osteoporosis risks can be reduced with lifestyle changes and sometimes medication; in people with osteoporosis, treatment may involve both. Lifestyle change includes diet and exercise, and preventing falls. Medication includes calcium, vitamin D, bisphosphonates and several others. Fall-prevention advice includes exercise to tone deambulatory muscles, proprioception-improvement exercises; equilibrium therapies may be included. Exercise with its anabolic effect, may at the same time stop or reverse osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a component of the frailty syndrome.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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