RDUSA201905

been prevented over

those three years.

How is this increase

in fractures possible?

Deep misunderstand-

ings about what really

affects our bones,

overblown fears about

bone-building drugs,

changes in health in-

surance coverage for

bone scans, and the “I

feel healthy, so I must

be fine” hubris of ag-

ing baby boomers

have all combined to

put our bones at risk.

“We have our blood

pressure checked reg-

ularly and our choles-

terol levels measured,

but too many of us ignore screening

for bone health,” Dr. Lewiecki told

newsmax.com. If you want to avoid

becoming a victim, keep in mind these

important medical findings.

Bone-Density Scans Are Key

The only way to tell whether you have

osteoporosis or osteopenia is with

a bone-density test. DXA scans, the

gold standard, are recommended by

the National Osteoporosis Founda-

tion (NOF) for women age 65 and

older; men age 70 and older; and

as early as age 50 for those with at-

risk bones, such as postmenopausal

women, smokers, and anyone who is

in the past 25 years
it has become highly
treatable and even
preventable. Dual-
energy X-ray ab-
sorptiometry (DXA)
scans, which mea-
sure the amount of
calcium and other
minerals in your
bones, are accurate
enough for the World
Health Organization
to use them as the
criteria for diagnos-
ing osteoporosis and
its precursor, osteo-
penia. DXA scans are
also effective in pre-
dicting fracture risk.
They are covered by
Medicare and most private health
insurance.
Bisphosphonates and other drugs
that treat low bone density can reduce
the risk of fractures by 40 percent in
women and up to 67 percent in men.
But despite these advances, fractures
are becoming more common, not less.
According to a 2018 study, after a de-
cade of declines, the number of broken
hips rose 2.5 percent in women ages
65 to 69 and 3.8 percent in women
ages 70 to 74 between 2013 and 2015.
E.  Michael Lewiecki, MD, the lead
researcher and a director at the New
Mexico Clinical Research & Osteopo-
rosis Center, estimates that 11,000 hip
fractures and 2,000 deaths could have

rd.com 93

Health

Drugs can reduce

fractures by

40%

in women and up to

67%

in men.