A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that some older women with normal bone density may be able to delay follow-up testing, but guidelines for women with or at risk for osteoporosis remain unchanged.
Read the winter issue of Eye on Bone Health for a summary of NBHA’s 20/20 Vision Summit, plans for a 2012 public and health professional bone health awareness campaign, plans to submit a Fracture Liaison Grant for consideration by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and more.
WASHINGTON, DC (November 15, 2011) — The National Bone Health Alliance (NBHA) and Kaiser Permanente unveiled on Monday their "20/20 Vision" for reducing hip and other bone breaks 20 percent by 2020 at a best practices sharing event Monday at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health on Capitol Hill.
Is fear, ignorance or procrastination putting you at risk of a devastating bone fracture? Most of the news about osteoporosis concerns the side effects of current therapies and preventives. But it is important to put these effects in perspective — and to focus on treatment benefits and practical measures that can help to prevent costly and debilitating fractures in fragile bones.
Read the first issue of Eye on Bone Health for an in-depth look at NBHA, including descriptions of its current projects, members and ways to get involved.
Bisphosphonates are popular bone-building medicines that prevent and treat osteoporosis. Because these medicines build up in the bone, their benefits can last for several years. That's why you may opt to stop taking them for a few years. Doctors call this a "drug holiday."
You’re not just getting older. You’re probably getting shorter too. Height loss is a natural part of aging—some people start shrinking slightly as early as 30. Losing too much height too rapidly, however, can signal a high risk for hip fractures, spinal fractures and even heart disease, particularly in men, several recent studies have found.
My mother and my maternal grandmother were both crippled by osteoporosis. Nana was an Irish virago who even in her 60s was hauling rocks to build stone walls for her stepped gardens. Still, she developed a widow's hump. My mother swam every day, but like Nana she had no idea that a silent thief was turning her hip bones to powder. When it became too painful for her even to sit and enjoy reading a book, she put her head down and died.
Two advisory panels to the Food and Drug Administration on Friday recommended increasing the cautionary language on the product labels of bone-building drugs taken by more than five million women in the United States. But they stopped short of specifying what the safety warnings should say and did not recommend limiting use of the drugs to a proposed five years. About 11 percent of women 55 and older take the drugs to prevent bone fractures.
