Osteoporosis

Preoperative osteoporosis treatment lowered the risks of osteoporosis-related complications and revision surgery in patients undergoing spinal fusion of three levels or more at 1 year, according to published results.

A report from the National Osteoporosis Foundation details fracture rates for all 50 U.S. states and highlights ethnic and racial disparities among Medicare beneficiaries for hospitalization, mortality and health costs.

The use of denosumab to treat osteoporosis has increased rapidly since its FDA approval in 2010, and it is now the second most used medication after alendronate, according to data presented at the ENDO annual meeting.

Founder of India’s first bone density and osteoporosis service, Ambrish Mithal, MD, DM, played a key role in establishing osteoporosis as a serious national health problem.

The experience with fluoride made clear that increased BMD does not result in reduced fractures when the mineralization of bone is compromised. Therefore, good data on bone histology is a prerequisite for accepting BMD as a surrogate for fracture. Strontium increases BMD substantially, but this is significantly contributed to by the heavier strontium atoms replacing calcium in bone mineral. Thus, the increase in BMD does not reflect an increase in bone tissue volume, again dissociating BMD from bone strength.

Osteoporotic fractures represent a costly human and socioeconomic burden. Even with currently available drugs, treatments that more effectively increase bone mineral density, reduce fractures and reverse the disease are needed.

Osteoporosis, long considered a disease of older age, is estimated to affect about 25% of women aged at least 65 years, according to the CDC.

The simultaneous use of oral glucocorticoids and proton pump inhibitors is associated with a 1.6-fold increased risk for osteoporotic fractures in patients aged 50 years and older with rheumatoid arthritis, according to data.

Approximately one-quarter of adults with kidney stone disease had a diagnosis of osteoporosis or bone fracture at the time of their kidney stone diagnosis, according to a Veterans Affairs database analysis.

Adults with osteoporosis have had fewer in-person appointments, delayed DXA scans and interruptions with medication supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to results from a global survey of physicians.