Hormone excess such as too much parathyroid or thyroid hormone can cause a loss of calcium. Too much steroid medicine also causes loss of calcium from the bone. Until recently, the outlook for people with osteoporosis was gloomy. Indeed, as many as 35,000 older people who sustain fractures of the spine, hips, or arms due to osteoporosis die yearly of complications. Scientists believe that women get osteoporosis more frequently than men do because their bones are lighter and thinner and women's hormonal changes after menopause seem to accelerate bone loss.
Osteoporosis is uncommon in men until after the age of seventy.
Most women do not know they have osteoporosis until it is diagnosed at the time of a bone fracture. But with the use of bone scanning equipment to test bone density, physicians can diagnose osteoporosis before a fracture. Today, however, much more is known about preventing osteoporosis, and most people can limit its devastating effects. Studies from the Mayo Clinic especially offer hope. Let's look at each of these treatments.