What is osteoporosis?

  The bones in our body are in a dynamic formation process. On the one hand, the bone mass of the bones is being formed every day, and on the other hand, the bone mass of the bones is being lost every day, and when the loss of bone mass in the body is greater than the increase of bone mass, the bone mass in our body will be reduced and an osteoporosis will be formed.  Osteoporosis is mainly characterized by a loss of bone mass and an increase in bone fragility, making the patient prone to fractures. In a nutshell, osteoporosis means that the patient’s bones are not as hard and are more prone to fracture.  The diagnosis of osteoporosis can be confirmed by doing a bone density test. Bone density T-value ≥-1 belongs to the normal range, -1~-2.5 belongs to low bone mass, and T-value less than -2.5 indicates that the patient has osteoporosis, and the incidence of osteoporosis is very high, with a prevalence rate of 36% in people over 60 years old. In other words, on average, 4 out of 10 people suffer from osteoporosis. The prevalence rate for men is 23% and for women is 49%, more than twice the prevalence rate for women than for men. Why is the prevalence of women so high? It starts with the typing of osteoporosis.  Osteoporosis is divided into postmenopausal osteoporosis, senile osteoporosis, secondary osteoporosis, and other special types of osteoporosis. Postmenopausal osteoporosis occurs mainly within 5-10 years after menopause in women and is mainly related to the decrease in estrogen levels. Age-related osteoporosis, which generally occurs in people over 60 years of age, is mainly associated with a decline in calcium and vitamin-D absorption. Secondary osteoporosis is mainly related to endocrine disorders, taking hormones and some anti-tumor drugs. Therefore, the decrease of estrogen level, age increase, endocrine disorders, oral hormones and some drugs are the main causes of osteoporosis.