[Prevention of osteoporosis in different life stages and conditions]

While prevention forms part of the armamentarium for osteoporosis which is no less important than treatment, there is as yet a paucity of evidence that provides the rationale for prevention compared to that for treatment in osteoporosis. While preventive measures against osteoporosis vary depending on the life stage of the patient being targeted (i.e., young, perimenopausal or elderly) , prevention is being addressed in this article from a different perspective with a focus on the following three areas : prevention of onset of osteoporosis, prevention of osteoporotic fracture, and prevention of falls. The biggest challenge in preventing the onset of osteoporosis has to do with how best to alert the patient to the risk of osteoporosis which remains nearly asymptomatic, then to encourage her to seek medical consultation, and finally to prevent osteoporosis from happening in the patient. Again, while the importance of preventing primary osteoporotic fracture is beginning to be widely recognized, how to keep a chain reaction of fracture events from happening in osteoporotic patients remains a major challenge to be addressed. Lastly, as fracture events go hand in hand with falls, how to minimize the impact of falls in such a way that they do not lead to fractures remains yet another challenge calling for attention.