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Preventing bone diseases in the elderly - Source: The Daily Star

Dr M Amjad Hossain

Osteoporosis, a condition when bone becomes porous most commonly appears at older age. It is the thinning of bone tissue and loss of bone density over time. This results in brittle, fragile bones that are more prone to fractures, especially of the spine, hip and wrist joint.

It has turned into a silent epidemic around the globe. Every one out of three women and every one out of five men suffer from Osteoporosis in Bangladesh.

Osteoporosis occurs when the body fails to form enough new bone and when too much old bone is reabsorbed by the body. During youth, new bones are formed very fast. But after the age of 30, despite regeneration, bone loss occurs more than bone development. With the advancement of age, there is advancement of bone loss and there is risk of fall and fracture due to fragile bone.

Family history of Osteoporosis, irrespective of gender, age, race and usage of tobacco, calcium deficiency, excess intake of medicine, idle lifestyle, drinking of alcohol for a long time, drop in estrogen in women at the time of menopause are the main reasons of excessive bone loss.

Osteoporosis develops on weight bearing bones like hip, vertebrae, knee etc. The fatal consequences are fracture in bones of waist and collapse of the spinal bones.

Earlier, hormone therapy was the only treatment of Osteoporosis. Because of side effects and discovery of various replacing medicine, hormone therapy is rarely used any longer. But in some cases, hormone therapy works well. Medicine used in the treatment of Osteoporosis include various types of hormone, calcium tablets. But they should not be taken without advice of physicians.

In order to prevent osteoporosis, people should raise their body bone mass. Peak bone mass is created in our body within 30 to 35 years of age. At this period, people should do regular exercise, participate in games and sports and jogging along with their regular activities. We should encourage all forms of physical exercise including walking, jogging.

Intake of calcium rich food like milk and dairy products, dark leafy vegetables like spinach, nuts and soya food to provide body adequate amount of calcium is also essential and should maintain from the growing age.

Aging is one of the main reasons of Osteoporosis. This is why, we must have to take care of elderly people both male and female.