Osteoporosis affects older people most especially Asians
By 2050, 6.4 million people worldwide will suffer a hip fracture annually, with 51 percent of these fractures occurring in Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported. Asians are at high risk of osteoporosis because of lower bone density, inadequate calcium-rich diet as a children and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, it said.
In 2001, eight in every 1000 women and three per 1000 men fractured their hip. The death rate for hip fractures is 10 percent and 50 percent become disabled due to the hip fracture.Recent studies have shown that screening for osteoposis can prevent a large number of hip fractures, a debilitating and traumatic experience.
The National Osteoporosis Foundation suggested screening for osteoporosis to include all postmenopausal women under the age of 65 with one or more risk factors (in addition to postmenopausal status), all menopausal women over the age of 65, postmenopausal woman who present with fractures, women considering treatment for osteoporosis (if findings would impact their decision-making efforts). Other risk factors that that may warrant screening include women with a weight of less than 127 pounds (57.6 kg.), family history of a fracture, and currently a smoker. A change in lifestyle and screening for osteoporosis are the recommended steps to prevent this silent condition from taking its toll on our health quality of life.