May is Osteoporosis Month

 



 *Note: Information from the National Osteoporosis Foundation

May is National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month In conjunction with this national health observance, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would like to take this opportunity to remind health care professionals that Medicare provides coverage of bone mass measurements for beneficiaries at clinical risk for osteoporosis.

The facts are that one out of every two women and one in four men over 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime. Twenty percent of seniors who suffer a hip fracture die within 1 year. According to the US Surgeon General’s 2004 report Bone Health and Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General, due to the aging of the population and the previous lack of focus on bone health, the number of hip fractures in the United States could double or triple by the year 2020. The report found that many patients were not being given appropriate information about prevention, and many patients were not having appropriate testing to diagnose osteoporosis or establish osteoporosis risk.

The good news is that osteoporosis is a disease that largely can be prevented and bone loss can be slowed with treatment. Medicare’s bone mass measurement benefit can aid in the early detection of osteoporosis before fractures occur, provide a precursor to future fractures, and determine rate of bone loss.

What is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones. It happens when you lose too much bone, make too little bone or both. As a result, your bones become weak and may break from a minor fall or, in serious cases, even from simple actions, like sneezing or bumping into furniture.

 

Osteoporosis means “porous bone.” If you look at healthy bone under a microscope, you will see that parts of it look like a honeycomb. If you have osteoporosis, the holes and spaces in the honeycomb are much bigger than they are in healthy bone. This means your bones have lost density or mass and that the structure of your bone tissue has become abnormal.

 

As your bones become less dense, they also become weaker and more likely to break. If you’re age 50 or older and have broken a bone, talk to your doctor or other healthcare provider and ask if you should have a bone density test.

 

Are You at Risk?

There are a variety of factors - both controllable and uncontrollable - that put you at risk for developing osteoporosis. It is important to talk with your healthcare provider about your risk factors for osteoporosis and together you can develop a plan to protect your bones.

Uncontrollable Risk Factors

·        Being over age 50. 

·        Being female. 

·        Menopause. 

·        Family history of osteoporosis. 

·        Low body weight/being small and thin. 

·        Broken bones or height loss.

Controllable Risk Factors

·        Not getting enough calcium and vitamin D.

·        Not eating enough fruits and vegetables. 

·        Getting too much protein, sodium and caffeine. 

·        Having an inactive lifestyle.

·        Smoking. 

·        Drinking too much alcohol.

·        Losing weight.