Osteoporosis is a systemic disease characterized by a generalized decrease in bone mass and destruction of the microstructure of bone tissue, resulting in increased bone fragility, decreased bone strength, and susceptibility to fracture.
Human bone mass peaks around the age of 30 and begins to decrease between the ages of 40 and 50. Many factors can influence it, such as genetics, environment, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, hormone levels, etc.
After people enter old age, gonadal function decreases and secretion decreases; food consumption becomes smaller, calcium intake is less; outdoor activities are less, sunshine time is shortened, vitamin D synthesis is insufficient; lack of exercise, blood circulation in the bones decreases, calcium in the bones is easily absorbed and moved out of the bone; organs are degenerative changes, organic disorders increase; slow movement, slow reaction, vision and hearing loss, injury opportunities increase. These are the reasons why the elderly are prone to osteoporosis.
1.Risk factors leading to osteoporosis
(1) Age, people over 65 years old.
(2) Genetics, Caucasians are more susceptible than yellow people, yellow people are more susceptible than black people, and people with a family history of osteoporosis are susceptible.
(3) Diet, long-term low calcium diet, lack of nutrition.
(4) wasting, the incidence of osteoporosis is high in people with low body mass index.
(5) Post-menopausal women or premature amenorrhea and women with decreased estrogen due to ovarian resection.
(6) People with habits such as alcoholism, heavy smoking, long-term coffee and strong tea consumption.
(7) Drugs, long-term use of corticosteroids, barbiturates, dalantin, heparin, etc.
(8) Diseases, endocrine diseases, nutritional metabolic diseases, renal insufficiency, rheumatoid arthritis, severe liver disease, etc.
(9) Weightlessness, such as astronauts.
(10) Lack of exercise, such as people who are bedridden for a long time.
2.How to diagnose osteoporosis
The more common symptoms of osteoporosis are
(1) Pain, with low back pain more common.
(2) Hunchback and shortening of body length.
(3) Fractures, which can occur when coughing, sneezing, laughing, bending over to pick up a child, bending over to pick up something or turning around. The most common sites for osteoporosis fractures are the hip, vertebrae, and wrist.
Patients with osteoporosis can also be asymptomatic in the early stages, and the medical community refers to it as a quiet epidemic. The diagnosis of osteoporosis in the elderly is based on a comprehensive evaluation of several aspects, including medical history, bone densitometry, biochemical tests, imaging tests, and bone biopsy. Dual-energy X-ray bone densitometry is currently the gold standard for the diagnosis of osteoporosis and the observation of the efficacy of preventive and curative measures at home and abroad. 1994, the World Health Organization (WHO) used this test result to establish the diagnostic criteria for osteoporosis in white women, which is still applied by most countries in the world. Biochemical tests of bone metabolism provide a rapid, dynamic picture of the overall rate of bone remodeling and can predict the rate of bone loss. Imaging tests, including X-rays, CT, quantitative CT, quantitative ultrasound, and MRI, are also very useful tests.
Osteoporosis typing: Osteoporosis is divided into primary osteoporosis and secondary osteoporosis. Primary osteoporosis accounts for about 90% of the total number of patients, and it is subdivided into type I (postmenopausal osteoporosis) and type II (senile osteoporosis). Secondary osteoporosis accounts for about 10% of the total number of patients and is often caused by various endocrine, renal and digestive system diseases and improper medication and disuse.
3.How to detect osteoporosis at an early stage
Patients with osteoporosis often have no obvious symptoms in the early stage. People should start to pay attention and be alert when they have the following symptoms: when they start to walk or move their body, they feel weakness and pain in their lower back, which gradually becomes chronic pain and occasionally sudden severe pain; their back gradually bends and their height becomes shorter. People with risk factors for osteoporosis should have a bone density check in time, even if it is normal, attention should be paid to prevention.
4.How to prevent and treat osteoporosis
For the prevention of osteoporosis, attention must be paid to people at high risk of osteoporosis, including people with reduced bone mass or spinal deformity on X-ray, menopausal women and the elderly, people with reduced height and hunchback, people who are bedridden for a long time, people with insufficient intake of vitamin D and calcium, people who have had their ovaries, uterus, stomach or small intestine removed, people with low back pain or hip fracture, people with a family history of osteoporosis, people who have been taking corticosteroids, anti-spasmodic drugs, diuretics, etc. for a long time. anti-spasmodics, diuretics, stomach medications, painkillers and other drugs, people with long-term addiction to smoking and alcohol, people with chronic abnormal functional diseases related to osteoporosis, such as hyperthyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, renal failure, liver disease, people with body mass index (BMI) less than 19 kg/m2, etc.
Calcium and vitamin D are the basic medications for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. In general, the basic preventive treatment for osteoporosis is 1200 mg of calcium and 800 units of vitamin D. For patients with a clear diagnosis of osteoporosis, the administration of calcium and vitamin D therapy alone is not sufficient, and an individualized drug combination regimen should be selected under the guidance of a specialist, depending on the patient.