Bone Loss in Women Significantly Underdiagnosed
JAMA Study Calls for Increased Osteoporosis Screening

Listen to Vicky Que's report.

Read an osteoporosis fact sheet.

Read about preventing and treating bone density loss.

Top, a biopsy specimen of normal, dense bone tissue. Bottom, a biopsy specimen of thinning, osteoporotic bone tissue. Photos: Reproduced from J Bone Miner Res 1986; 1: 16-21 with permission of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

Dec. 12, 2001 -- A new study finds many women past menopause have thinning of the bones -- and don't know it.

In the largest study of osteoporosis conducted to date in the United States, more than 200,000 healthy women aged 50 and older were recruited from doctors' offices and underwent bone screening. In this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers report that nearly one out of every two women tested had undetected low bone-mineral density.

Seven percent of the women had such severe depletion of bone mass that they were diagnosed with osteoporosis, according to the study conducted by researchers at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. NPR's Vicky Que reports for Morning Edition.

Researchers followed up with about 75 percent of the participants after the initial diagnosis and found that in one year, women with osteoporosis were four times more likely to suffer a fracture compared to those with healthy bones.

Bone is a living growing tissue made mostly of collagen, a protein that provides a soft framework, and calcium phosphate, a mineral that adds strength and hardens the framework. Throughout life, the body removes old bone and adds new. During childhood, new bone is added faster than old bone is removed. But as the body ages, bone loss starts to exceed bone growth.

Who's At Risk: • Women are at greater risk than men. • The older you are, the greater your risk. • Those with a family history of osteoporosis. • Small, thin-boned women, especially those of Asian or Hispanic heritage. • Smokers. • Excessive drinkers.

Ten million Americans suffer from osteoporosis, a disease caused by rapid bone density loss that increases susceptibility to broken, slow-healing bones. In the most severe cases, osteoporitic people can fracture vertebrae just twisting their bodies as they back up their cars.

Women are at the most risk for the debilitating disease, especially after menopause when bone loss is the most rapid. Some 8 million women are currently diagnosed with osteoporosis.

The study in JAMA highlights that tens of thousands more unknowingly may have the disease, and hundreds of thousands more are in danger of becoming osteoporotic. The study found that nearly 40 percent of the women tested had osteopenia, a condition characterized by low bone mass, but not to the severity of osteoporosis.

"The importance of such findings, indicating a need for greater attention to the identification and management of osteoporotic risk, should not be underestimated," writes Dr. Charles H. Chestnut of the University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, in an editorial accompanying the study.

"Based on the current study, strategies to identify, manage, and treat osteoporosis in primary care need to be established and implemented -- hopefully, sooner rather than later," he concludes.

In Depth

 Browse for other NPR stories about osteoporosis.

Resources

• Learn more at the National Institutes of Health National Resource Center for osteoporosis and other bone-related disease.

• Visit the National Foundation for Osteoporosis Web site for resource and advocacy information.