Abstract
Osteoporosis is one of the most common diseases. It occurs in 11% of population and in 31% of women above the age of 50. Familial occurrence, aging, menopause, low calcium diet and smoking are the predominate risk factors of osteoporosis occurrence. Due to prevalence of bone resorption over osteogenetic processes, bone mineral density (BMD) decreases and deterioration of bone microarchitecture follows. Whether BMD loss will reach fracture threshold depends from the primary peak bone mass ( achievable at the age of 25 yrs) but it is determined by genes.
Bone fractures consist of great meaning of osteoporosis in clinical practice. Life risk of any fracture in 50-year-old women is 39.7%. Spinal fractures affect 21% of women at that age and 80% at the age of 70. Proximal femur fractures (PFF) are the most difficult and problematic. 20% of women will die during the first year after fracture and 50% of those surviving will become disabled. There were 1.700.000 PFF worldwide in 1990. Population aging will lead to more then 3 fold increase in 2050 giving 6.300.000 PFF fractures.
Fracture prevention is based on early diagnosis and treatment. DXA measurement of spine and hip BMD are the golden standard for diagnosis. According to WHO criteria osteoporosis is ascertained at level of −2.5 T-score. Treatment of osteoporosis should combine pharmacoterapy and fall prevention programme.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Dr. Frantz Langlais. Correspondence should be addressed to him at EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.
