Osteoporosis
As the large "Baby Boom" generation moves beyond 50 years of age, the number of older people with thin and brittle bones is expected to rise sharply. Half of all American women over 50 years old will break a bone because of osteoporosis and so will 1 in 4 men, warned the U.S. Surgeon General. Fracturing the hip or spine often starts a depressing and socially isolating downward spiral of pain, disability, and deformity for an elderly person. Being immobilized in this way often means losing independence. The consequences can be depressing or even deadly.
Finding out if your bones have become dangerously porous and treating the problem can help reduce your risk of a fracture. An industry-funded study in 2001 estimated that only 12 percent of women 65 years of age or older with osteoporosis or osteopenia (low bone mass) had a Medicare-reimbursed bone marrow density x-ray. Your health care provider can now also use a calculator, called the FRAX tool, to better determine your risk of a hip, wrist, shoulder, or spine fracture after age 40. Available online or on paper, the calculator, developed by the World Health Organization, considers the bone density measurement and 9 other risk factors.
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