There are approximately 8 million women and 2 million men living with osteoporosis in the United States today, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. An estimated 34 million more people have low bone density, a precursor to osteoporosis.
The disease causes bones to become brittle and prone to fracture, and while osteoporosis is both preventable and treatable, it often goes undiagnosed and untreated because it has no symptoms. But under-diagnosis is not the only reason osteoporosis often goes untreated...
A recent study by University at Buffalo researchers shows that even when people are diagnosed with osteoporosis, often they fail to pursue treatment. Nearly half of the 836 women in the population-based study who underwent osteoporosis screening for the first time were found to have osteoporosis. Follow-up, one year later, showed that half of the women diagnosed had not begun treatment to slow progression of the disease, and a quarter of the women diagnosed had failed to discuss the screening results with their physician.
Study results were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Epidemiological Research this week.
Below, Dr. Martin Nydick and Dr. David Zackson of the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical College, discuss the dangers associated with osteoporosis, and the reasons why a proactive treatment approach is a good idea.
Q: How would you define the disease?
DAVID ZACKSON, MD: Osteoporosis is a disease of the bone in which t...
Copyright 2009 NBC Health
Click here to read the rest of the article at HealthVideo.com
