Osteoporosis: Definition, Risk Factors, Complications, and Management

OSTEOPOROSIS
What is Osteoporosis
• Osteoporosis is defined as the bone disease and
affects an individual with poor or reduced bone
density.
• The bone tend to become weak and porous and are
more susceptible towards the health risk of
fractures.
• Osteoporosis is one of the most common health
condition in Australia and is accountable for
affecting approximately 1.2 million of population,
where 6.3 million of the population suffer form
reduced bone density (Eisman, 2019).
• Large number of older population are affected due
to the condition of osteoporosis, as the bone
density of older people are weak and more fragile.
Risk Factors of Osteoporosis
The health risk of osteoporosis is based on different
non-modifiable risk factors that increase the
complexity of developing the condition among the
patient, which are as follows (Pisani et al., 2016):
• Age
• Reduced sex hormone
• Weight and height
• Fracture history
• Ethnicity
• Genetic factors
There are different modifiable risk factors also which
affects the patient and their bone density. The
modifiable risk factors are as follows (Pisani et al.,
2016):
• Immobility
• Inactivity
• Stress
Complication of Osteoporosis
With the increasing age, the risk and
complication of developing osteoporosis
increases. The older people are more prone
towards falls and fractures as their bone is
fragile and weak and hence, they are
associated with various health complication.
Osteoporosis can result in different types of
health complication, which are stated as
follows (Edwards et al., 2015):
• Limited or reduced mobility
• Risk of depression
• Hospital admission
• Persistent pain
• Admission in the nursing home care due to
lack of movement.
Edwards, M. H., Dennison, E. M., Sayer, A. A.,
Fielding, R., & Cooper, C. (2015). Osteoporosis and
sarcopenia in older age. Bone, 80, 126-130.
Eisman, J. (2019). OSTEOPOROSIS-AFFECTING
MILLIONS OF AUSTRALIANS.
Golob, A. L., & Laya, M. B. (2015). Osteoporosis:
screening, prevention, and management. Medical
Clinics, 99(3), 587-606.
Kanis, J. A. (2019). Diagnosis and Clinical Aspects of
Osteoporosis. In Pocket Reference to Osteoporosis (pp.
11-20). Springer, Cham.
Pisani, P., Renna, M. D., Conversano, F., Casciaro, E.,
Di Paola, M., Quarta, E., ... & Casciaro, S. (2016).
Major osteoporotic fragility fractures: Risk factor
updates and societal impact. World journal of
orthopedics, 7(3), 171.
Management of Osteoporosis
The healthcare professional must educate and
increase the knowledge and understanding
among the older people related to osteoporosis
condition and what strategies can be
implemented to effectively manage the condition.
An educational-awareness program should be
established in the community that will assist the
older people to understand what are the risk
factors that can lead to the condition of
osteoporosis.
There are two types of osteoporosis management
strategy, which are as follows (Kanis, 2019):
1. Non-pharmacological management
2. Pharmacological management
References
Reducing the risk of Osteoporosis
The risk of osteoporosis is extremely high
among the older adults. The healthcare
professionals must guide them, and
increase their awareness regarding the
strategies that can adopted by them to
reduce the health risk associated with
osteoporosis.
The strategies adopted to manage the
condition or risk of osteoporosis are as
follows (Golob & Laya, 2015):
• Vitamin and calcium intake
• Fall prevention
• Avoiding smoking
• Exercising
• Limiting the intake of alcohol
• Modifying the lifestyle