Osteoporosis Is Not Just for Women

 

Osteoporosis, or brittle bones, is a condition normally associated with postmenopausal women but it is also seen in men. According to Dr. P. Peris of the University of Barcelona, "Osteoporosis in men has received much less attention; however, it is increasingly recognized as a problem in clinical medicine." According to Dr. Allan Gold, an endocrinologist and senior physician at Montreal General Hospital, a recent Canadian survey found that 20 percent of men have serious bone loss in their vertebrae, and by age 70 the figure is as high as 30 percent. Gold said that "men in their 80s have a fracture rate that is equal to women's."

The main cause of osteoporosis is aging. The sex hormones, estrogen and testosterone, hold the balance between bone renewal and deterioration. Women who are entering menopause are briefed on the tools to fight osteoporosis: exercise, a calcium-rich diet, estrogen-replacement therapy and other medications. Men in their 60s rarely receive any such medical alert even though their testosterone levels decline, and some men suffer from "male menopause", or andropause. For those men and others, osteoporosis is a real risk.

A recent study of over 10,000 people under age 60 by researchers at the University of Chicago and published in the Journal Of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that men with high levels of body fat were more likely to have lower bone density and attendant fractures than men with normal levels of body fat. "We found that higher fat mass was related to lower bone density, and these trends were stronger in men than women," said Rajesh K. Jain, M.D., of University of Chicago Medicine, one of the researchers. The review of the literature done by the researchers shows that osteoporosis and fragility fractures have a high incidence also in men; and, furthermore, the risk of fatal complications in hip fractured men is higher than that for women.

The recommendation is that men age 70 or older and men age 50 or older with high risk factors (high body fat, history of smoking, prior fractures, lack of physical activity) have a baseline screening and be tested every few years thereafter. 

Its not just for women anymore.