PMID: 9160220Mar 1, 1997Paper

The brittle bone: how to save women from osteoporosis

International Journal of Fertility and Women's Medicine
Serge RozenbergK Claus

Abstract

For a woman, the risk of suffering an osteoporotic fracture during her lifetime is higher than the combined risk of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer. It is important to reduce the number of osteoporosis-related fractures. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize various interventions and attitudes which will decrease both the risk of falling and that of breaking bones. Strategies should be followed to reach adulthood with an optimal bone mass through improved diet and exercise during childhood. Programs that identify women with the lowest bone mass at the time of menopause may be useful, since prophylactic measures against osteoporosis such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can be offered to them. Identification of women at risk can be achieved through bone densitometry; a decrease of each standard deviation of bone mineral mass below mean values predicts a doubling of the fracture risk. Some data suggest that physicians are more willing to prescribe HRT specifically to women with the lowest bone mass, and that the latter are more likely to stay on therapy for longer periods of time. The decision to use HRT should be taken by the patient after proper information of all benefits (diminished climacteric symptoms, decreas...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Breast Cancer: BRCA1 & BRCA2

Mutations involving BRCA1, found on chromosome 17, and BRCA2, found on chromosome 13, increase the risk for specific cancers, such as breast cancer. Discover the last research on breast cancer BRCA1 and BRCA2 here.