Saturday 30 April 2011

US: Osteoporosis Affects 10 Million Americans

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 million Americans suffer from osteoporosis, a disease that causes the bone mass to go down resulting in porous bones that lead to bones that are easily breakable or easily fractured by a small fall or even a hefty sneeze.

It’s estimated that one in two women and one in four men will suffer from this disease at some point in the later years.

The disease is also quite costly. In 2005 alone, 2 million fractures related to osteoporosis added up to around $19 million in health care bills. It’s also quite costly in the non-financial area of a person’s well being and quality of life.

The most typical places for fractures to occur are on the spine, wrist, hips and ribs. In women, the occurrence of hip fractures is two to three time higher than in men. Additionally, the one year mortality marker after a hip fracture is twice as high in women than their male counterparts.

On average, 24% of people who have a hip fracture after 50 years of age die within one year, and 20% require some form of long-term care afterwards. A total of 15% of them are unable to walk across a room without assistance just six months after their injury.

Meanwhile, research shows that taking calcium supplements to protect bone density could cause heart problems.



~ Posted by Cindy Tweed on Fri, 04/29/2011 in 'Top News' (http://www.topnews.us)






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