An immune reaction allows toxic mediators to enter cells, leading to inflammation and granulation involving cartilage and bone and resulting in joint and tendon damage. No available treatments are currently classed in the latter category. Osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease of joint cartilage, is much more prevalent than rheumatoid arthritis.
Osteoporosis means that bone disappears faster than it is replaced.
Osteoporosis causes about 1.6 million hip fractures worldwide every year, and affects 75 million people in the United States, Europe and Japan. The economic cost of osteoporosis in the U.S. alone is estimated at 10 billion US dollars annually. Although it is considered a disease that primarily affects elderly women, one in six sufferers is male.