Osteoporosis: epidemiology and risk assessment

More than half of all women and about one-third of men will develop fractures related to osteoporosis. The consequences of fractures are often severe, and can lead to persistent declines in quality of life and increased mortality rates. Bone density should always be measured to quantitate the degree of fracture risk and provide a baseline value for future comparisons, regardless of whether other risk factors are present, because there are no symptoms other than fractures associated with disease progression, and because effective treatments for low bone density are available. Early detection and intervention is likely to be most effective because irreversible loss of bone structure has taken place by the time fractures begin to occur. Although the use of bone densitometry is on the rise, relatively few people are currently receiving treatment to prevent or reverse bone loss.