How to Diagnose Osteoporosis

Female: Today 10 million Americans have Osteoporosis and another 34 million accept it early stages of the condition. How are these people diagnosed?

Male: Osteoporosis is a condition where person has reduced bone density which is the amount of bone present in the skull row structure. Most methods are diagnosing the condition do so by measuring bone density. Bone density grows during childhood and adolescents, reaching its peak around age 25. At this point density remains steady for about ten years after age 35-bone density will gradually drop at the rate of point three to point fiver percent each year. This is a normal part of the aging process and not the same as Osteoporosis.

One way to diagnose Osteoporosis is for the routine x-ray since the bone in someone with the condition appears much thinner than healthy bones. Unfortunately because x-rays can only detect large changes in bone density they are not affective for diagnosing early stage osteoporosis. A better way to diagnose the condition is with the more advance scan known as the DXA, this short procedure uses a very small amount of radiation to measure the bone density of the hip and spine. The bone density of the patient is un-compared to that of overage younger adults of the same sex and race who have peak healthy bone mass. This comparison is witness a negative number called the T-score.

A T-score greater the negative one is normal or the same of the patient who has ideal bone mass. A score between negative one and negative two point five is classified as Osteopenia or pre-osteoporosis. A last Osteoporosis is a number less the negative two point five because it is impractical to test everyone for Osteoporosis Doctors only perform DXA on people with specific risk factors. The biggest wrist factors for developing Osteoporosis is being female about 80 percent of people what the disease are women, largely due to the decrease in Estrogen that occurs post menopause.

Women also have smaller skeletons and experience bone loss early on life than men do. Advanced age is a second major risk factor this is because bone mass begins decreasing more rapidly after age 65 as with many diseases genetics play a role too. A family history of Osteoporosis and broken bones increases risk by up to 50%. Certain medications like critical steroids and chemotherapy drugs can also increase the risk of bone loss.

Some medical conditions like anorexia, hyperthyroidism and rheumatoid arthritis all create in increase risk of developing Osteoporosis as well. In addition, smoking a diet low in calcium or vitamin D and a lack of exercise all increase Osteoporosis risk. People with any of this risk factors are more of a lot of the develop osteoporosis and should talk to their Doctors about having a DXA to test bone density.
Osteoporosis can be scary but becoming aware of your personal risk factors and getting diagnose in the early stage of the disease can help you make healthy lifestyle choices for your condition.

Female; Want to learn more, check out other videos and sources on this site for more information.


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