Don't let osteoporosis ruin your future!
Take care of your bones
Every minute in our country, seven people over the age of 50 break their vertebrae, and every 5 minutes there is a fracture of the femoral neck. A significant proportion of these severe injuries are caused by osteoporosis, a metabolic disease of the skeleton. According to the WHO decision, since 1997, October 20 has been the World Day for Combating this Bone Pathology, which this year was held under the motto: "Don't let osteoporosis break your future!"
Characteristic changes in posture in osteoporosis can be traced from photographs of Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain.
With osteoporosis, the bone breaks already with very little mechanical action on it, which does not happen in a healthy person. What is the reason? During our lifetime, our bone tissue is constantly being updated: osteoclast cells "eat" old bone, and osteoblasts develop a new one. Calcium in the form of the mineral hydroxyapatite, rich in phosphorus, plays the role of intercellular "concrete", strengthening the bone structure. Osteoporosis begins to develop when the rate of destruction of bone tissue begins to exceed the rate of their renewal. As a result, the microarchitecture of the bone changes: the bone "beams" thin out, and the density of the mineral substance decreases.
The main risk factors for the development of the most common primary osteoporosis are old age and menopause in women (with a drop in the level of the hormone estrogen, osteoclasts "eat" the bone faster than it has time to recover). Long-term use of glucocorticoids, alcohol abuse, smoking, and improper nutrition also contributes to the development of the disease. Separately, it is worth noting the genetic predisposition. Secondary osteoporosis develops against the background of other diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, Bekhterev's disease, rheumatoid arthritis – young and middle-aged people are not immune from it.
When growing up, a person gains his personal peak mass of calcified bone tissue, which he will carry through his whole life, gradually losing to old age. Women reach the peak of this mass earlier than men, and the latter have a much smoother trend of its decline. In women, this decline is critically sharp, which is associated with age-related weakening of ovarian function. © 1999–2018, Rice University.
The main danger of osteoporosis is that visible signs of the disease appear when the pathological process has already gone very far. As a rule, these are all the same fractures of the vertebrae and tubular bones of the skeleton, including the infamous fracture of the femoral neck, after which a third of the victims become disabled.
Novosibirsk scientists from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, who study the genetic component of the development of this disease, are developing new approaches in the diagnosis and prevention of osteoporosis.
Researchers analyze the work of a number of genes that are involved in the pathological process and are responsible for bone density, features of vitamin D metabolism, which promotes the absorption of calcium from the small intestine, the development of inflammation, etc. Based on genetic analysis and the results of clinical observations, they create a diagnostic algorithm that allows you to assess the risk of developing osteoporosis, including secondary. Today, the Institute has already created such a prognostic model for women with type 2 diabetes. Similar work in relation to male patients is nearing completion. According to Vadim Klimontov, MD, from the Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Lymphology, such algorithms should be used in combination with the analysis of the patient's lifestyle and the presence of other diseases that can also provoke osteoporosis – this will be the personalized medicine that modern healthcare strives for.
The easiest and fastest way to diagnose osteoporosis early is X-ray or ultrasound densitometry of the skeleton, which allows you to assess bone density. Doctors recommend that all women over 50 and men over 70 undergo this safe procedure. And at any age, you should pay attention to such implicit signs of this pathology as changes in posture, back and lower back pain, night cramps in the lower extremities.
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