What is osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones lose their strength and density and are more likely to break, usually following a minor bump or fall. Osteoporosis is sometimes called the ‘silent disease’, as there are usually no tell-tale symptoms to alert you to its presence early on in its progression.¹

Broken bones or ‘fragility fractures’ caused by osteoporosis can affect various parts of the body; the wrists, hips and spine are the most commonly affected sites.²

Unfortunately, people who have had one fracture are at greater risk of another – around 23% of secondary fractures occur within a year of the initial fracture. Fragility fractures caused by osteoporosis can have a devastating effect on the day-to-day lives of sufferers, affecting mobility and resulting in a loss of independence.³

Risk factors for osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is more common in women than in men. This is because hormone changes that occur through the menopause directly affect bone density.⁴ Age is also a major risk factor for osteoporosis; our bones start to age as we enter our mid-thirties and as a result, one in two women and one in five men over the age of 50 will suffer a fracture due to weakened bones.²

As well as age, many other factors can determine your risk of suffering from a fragility fracture:

Finding out more about your risk factors can be helpful because there are actions you can take to reduce these risks and ultimately make you less likely to suffer from a fragility fracture in older age.

References

1. National Osteoporosis Society. What is Osteoporosis? Available from: https://www.nos.org.uk/about-osteoporosis

2. Call to Action. HCPs: Are you confident that your patients at risk of fracture are being identified and receiving appropriate care? Osteoporosis in the UK….Breaking Point. Available from: www.ilcuk.org.uk/files/pdf_pdf_145.pdf

3. National Osteoporosis Society. All about osteoporosis and bone health. Available from: https://nos.org.uk/media/1622/all-about-osteoporosis-august-2016.pdf

3. National Osteoporosis Society. Effective Secondary prevention of Fragility Fractures. Clinical Standards for Fracture Liaison Services. April 2015. Available from: https://staging.nos.org.uk/media/1776/clinical-standards-report.pdf

4. NHS Choices. Osteoporosis-Causes. Available from:  http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Osteoporosis/Pages/Causes.aspx

5. Call to Action. HCPs: Are you confident that your patients at risk of fracture are being identified and receiving appropriate care? Osteoporosis in the UK….Breaking Point. Available from: www.ilcuk.org.uk/files/pdf_pdf_145.pdf

6. NICE Osteoporosis: assessing the risk of fragility fracture. Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg146/chapter/introduction

7. Patient UK. Osteoporosis. Available from: http://patient.info/health/osteoporosis-leaflet