Osteoporosis increases the risk of fractures, especially hip fractures, which can raise the one-year mortality risk in older people by two to five times. That makes it one of the leading causes of death in senior citizens.
What is osteoporosis? The simple answer is fragile or weak bones. But how do they get that way and what can be done about this?
Osteoporosis, the most common age-related bone disease worldwide, is characterized by low bone density, deterioration of bone microarchitecture, and reduced bone strength. To understand how bones get this way, you must first grasp that bones are living cells, just like any other tissue in the body. There are two kinds of bone cells: osteoblasts that make bone, and osteoclasts that absorb bone. The normal bone condition is a balance between making bone by osteoblasts and removing bone by osteoclasts.
Osteoporosis occurs when there is less bone making by osteoblasts and more bone removing by osteoclasts. This imbalance leads to less density in the bone, which makes the bone weaker. Then the bone is more vulnerable to fractures.
Shan Lam and JoJo Novaes, writing in The Epoch Times, tell use each year in the United States, about 300,000 older adults are hospitalized for hip fractures caused by falls, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2019, 83 percent of hip fracture-related deaths in the United States were caused by falls.
Data indicate that 20 percent to 24 percent of individuals with hip fractures die within one year of the injury, and the increased risk of mortality can persist for up to five years. The high mortality rate following hip fractures can be attributed to multiple factors. First, patients often experience limited mobility after a hip fracture, leading to reduced physical activity, slower metabolism, and a rapid decline in physical strength and immunity. Prolonged bed rest is often required for most patients, increasing the risk of complications such as pressure ulcers (bedsores), urinary tract infections, and potentially fatal conditions such as pulmonary embolism.
For these reasons, surgery is the preferred treatment of all displaced hip fractures since this allows the patient to get out of bed faster. Surgery is considered the conservative approach since non-surgical treatment carries a higher mortality rate.
What causes osteoporosis?
Intrinsic Factors
Intrinsic factors are unmodifiable, such as sex, age, and race. Caucasians or those of Asian descent have a higher prevalence of osteoporosis. Those with small body frames are also at greater risk, as they often experience poorer nutrient absorption. Additional risk factors include advanced age, family history of age-related fractures, and hormonal change in women following menopause. Nearly 75 percent of hip fractures occur in women. Therefore, middle-aged and older women should pay particular attention to preventing osteoporosis.
Extrinsic Factors
Extrinsic factors are typically modifiable, at least to some degree, and include the following:
- Lifestyle Habits: Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, high intake of coffee and tea, improper dieting for weight loss, overly bland diets, and lack of exercise contributed to osteoporosis.
- Nutrition: Nutritional imbalances in the diet, excessive or insufficient protein intake, high-salt diets, low body weight, calcium deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency are also factors.
- Diseases: Chronic gastrointestinal dysfunction, impaired liver or kidney function, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and a history of surgical removal of the ovaries, uterus, stomach, or intestines contribute to osteoporosis. These cannot always be avoided.
- Medications: Glucocorticoids commonly prescribed to treat asthma, arthritis, and other conditions, can lead to osteoporosis if taken for more than three months. Fractures occur in 30 to 50 percent of patients undergoing this type of steroid treatment. While medications can be changed or stopped, their use is not always avoidable.
What else can you do to prevent osteoporosis?
Exercise is important to good bone formation. Weight-bearing exercises, such as walking or running, are especially beneficial since bones respond to the impact of gravity by producing more bone. On the other hand, bones become weaker when not adequately stimulated by weight-bearing activity. This is known as Wolff’s Law. A daily walk is an excellent way to strengthen your bones.
Diet can also have an impact. You want to get plenty of calcium and Vitamin D, which are essential to healthy bone formation. This may come from dietary supplements or from foods such as milk, legumes, and lean meat. Dried small fish and dried shrimp provide rich sources of calcium. Walnuts, and eggs not only supply calcium but also help strengthen the kidneys.
On the other hand, avoid smoking and drinking alcohol, avoid overconsuming coffee and strong tea, and refrain from drinking carbonated beverages. These may contribute to declining bone density.
In summary, osteoporosis is a common condition in the elderly and women are more vulnerable than men due to menopause changes in hormone levels. A good diet, combined with calcium and Vitamin D supplements, and weight-bearing exercises are all good measures to prevent osteoporosis. But if you’re in a high-risk category, you should see your doctor to consider medications that can be prescribed to strengthen your bones.
