Health Education

What is osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease, which is caused by the imbalance between osteoblasts and osteoclasts, thus easily leading to fragility fracture of the spine and hip.

Osteoporosis is a common disease in our country, which will seriously threaten our health and life

With the increase of life expectancy, osteoporosis has become a common epidemic in Taiwanese people. Patients usually do not feel any discomfort. Once found, fragility fractures have occurred in various parts, especially in the spine and hip. In the past decade, Taiwan epidemiological survey found that 19% of urban women over 65 years old in Taiwan have more than one spine compression fracture, compared with 12% of men¹. With an average life expectancy of 83.28 years in Taiwanese women, more than one-third of them will have a fragility fracture of the spine, hip or wrist once in their lifetime, and about one-fifth of men are at risk. Such prevalence rates, which are comparable to those in white Americans, are in high prevalence areas.

Which groups are more susceptible to osteoporosis (risk factors)?²

• Women and those lacking female sex hormones

In general, women have less bone density than men of the same age, which means their bones are already weak, and are especially vulnerable to osteoporosis if they lack the female sex hormones as a result of menopause, early failure (before age 40) or bilateral ovariectomy. Some women have not yet reached menopause, but their period may not come for months or even years, collectively known as amenorrhea. Women who have amenorrhea for more than six months have a higher risk of osteoporosis, even if their period returns to normal.

• Lack of exercises

Exercise can slow the rate of bone loss, but also can make the body healthy, muscles strong, keep the body active and flexible. Therefore, exercise can also reduce the incidence of hip or wrist fractures caused by falls.

• Smoking

In addition to the notorious harm, smoking will accelerate the rate of bone loss and increase the risk of osteoporosis.

• Excessive alcohol drinking

Excessive alcohol drinking will increase bone loss and affect bone health.

• Lack of calcium in diet

The risk of osteoporosis increases if the diet is deficient in calcium-rich foods such as dairy products.

• Family history

Osteoporosis is not a genetic disease, but if your family has had osteoporosis, then you are more likely to develop osteoporosis. If a first degree relative has ever had a hip fracture, you are twice as likely to have a hip fracture as anyone else.

• Underweight or small in body size

Smaller people with smaller bones may also have an increased risk of osteoporosis and are more likely to suffer from a fracture than larger people.

• Long term use of steroids

For people with allergies (e.g. asthma) or rheumatic autoimmune diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus), steroid treatment is not only necessary, it can be a matter of life and death. However, steroid drugs have adverse effects on bone, especially for long-term use, and easily lead to osteoporosis.

• Lack of sun exposure

Sunlight helps the body produce vitamin D in active form, an important ingredient in keeping bones strength.

• Other diseases

Some diseases also affect bone health, such as hyperthyroidism, liver disease, anorexia and Cushing syndrome.

Symptoms and complications of osteoporosis

Osteoporosis does not cause pain in the early stages. As a result, many people do not know they have the disease until they have a fragility fracture. In the later stages of osteoporosis, the following symptoms or serious consequences may occur:

• Acute pain (often in the lower back)
• Fragility fracture (often in the spine, hip, and upper wrist bones)
• Chronic pain caused by a compression fracture of the spine
• Body deformity, including a bent back and shortening

The hip fracture caused by osteoporosis is not only extremely painful, but also can seriously affect the daily life of the patient. About 80 percent of patients with hip fractures are still unable to walk six months after the fracture. To make matters worse, up to 13.98 percent of patients with hip fractures die within a year³. In addition, wrist and spinal fractures caused each year by osteoporosis cause patients to endure excruciating pain and severely limit their daily activities.