Osteoporosis prevention and treatment requires widespread attention

  Osteoporosis is a silent epidemic that is age-related, and the more the population ages, the more people are affected. China is currently the world’s most populous country and also has the largest absolute number of elderly people. According to the survey, it is estimated that in 2006, about 69.44 million people (15.34 million men and 54.1 million women) were suffering from osteoporosis and about 213.9 million people had low bone mass (100.43 million men and 113.47 million women) among people over 50 years of age nationwide. As the population continues to age, the prevalence of low bone mass and osteoporosis in people over 50 years of age will increase. a comparison between people over 40 years of age and people over 60 years of age shows that the prevalence of osteoporosis in people over 60 years of age is significantly higher, especially in women.  Osteoporosis can be divided into the following categories: 1. primary osteoporosis: a physiological degenerative disease that occurs with age, such as postmenopausal osteoporosis (type I), senile osteoporosis (type II), etc. 2. secondary osteoporosis: osteoporosis induced by some factors such as other diseases or drugs, such as hyperthyroidism osteoporosis, diabetic osteoporosis, and glucocorticoid osteoporosis. 3. Idiopathic osteoporosis: mostly seen in adolescents or adults aged 8 to 14 years old, mostly with genetic history, also including osteoporosis occurring in women during pregnancy and lactation. As seen in Figure 1, there is no single factor affecting osteoporosis, therefore, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis is not only for the elderly, but should be focused on prevention from a young age. In fact, osteoporosis-specific clinics also frequently encounter young people with low bone mass and even severe osteoporosis.  Fracture is a serious consequence of osteoporosis, which significantly reduces the quality of life and imposes a heavy economic burden on society. According to national health department information, the average number of days of treatment for inpatients with hip fracture is 22-24 days, and the average length of hospitalization for breast cancer is 13 days, ovarian cancer 11 days, prostate cancer 19 days and heart bypass 10 days according to hospitalization after the onset of the disease. By comparison of hospitalization costs, the average cost of the first hospitalization after hip fracture was $21,200, breast cancer was about $11,000-20,000; ovarian cancer was $15,000; prostate cancer was $20,000; and heart disease hospitalization was $20,000. It can be seen that osteoporosis is also a chronic disease that consumes a lot of medical and economic resources of the country, and the cost for hip fracture treatment is expected to increase to more than 85 billion yuan by 2020 and 1.8 trillion yuan by 2050, according to the incidence rate increasing year by year. Therefore, the active prevention and treatment of osteoporosis has great social and economic significance.  However, some patients are not yet aware of the danger of osteoporosis and still have the following misconceptions: 1, osteoporosis is not a disease, but a normal decline phenomenon; 2, osteoporosis is calcium deficiency, as long as calcium supplements and more milk can be; 3, wait for the occurrence of fractures and pain before treatment; and so on. These concepts are deeply rooted and require continuous health education related to osteoporosis, introduction of typical cases by themselves, and patient counseling by doctors. It is believed that with the joint efforts of many departments in our hospital, the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis will be further emphasized to achieve early examination, early diagnosis, early prevention and timely treatment, and it will not be a dream to keep many patients away from osteoporosis.