So osteoporosis is a significant problem in men as well. One does not usually think of osteoporosis in males. It is only recently becoming appreciated that it is a significant medical problem. However, despite these features, one may be at risk simply because of hereditary risk factors of it can be the onset of menopause in women, and therefore, based on the risk factors we discussed, the best way to determine whether one truly has osteoporosis is by doing bone density. If a patient is osteopenic, and has risk factors, some of the same medicines I mentioned previously are also proved for preventing the development of osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis is based on a score, T-score.
This is standard deviation from normal bone mass in young women, approximate age of twenty to thirty. A standard deviation of minus 2.5 or greater is defined as osteoporosis. We know that for every minus one, the risk of fracture of the spine doubles. For a score of minus one for the hip, the risk of hip fracture increases two and a half times. So one can see the importance of bone mineral density in assessing a patients' risk for subsequent fractures.