Role of family medicine in the early detection and management of osteoporosis

Abstract

Objectives The aim was to study the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and risk assessment of osteoporosis among adults as a major health problem and clarify the role of the family physician in the prevention, screening, early detection, and management of osteoporosis. Data analysis Osteoporosis is a multifactorial skeletal disease characterized by reduction in bone mass and deterioration of the microarchitectural structure of bone tissue, with resulting increase in bone fragility and fracture risk. A decline in bone mineral density with age increases bone fragility because it reflects the progressive loss of bone mass and changes in the architecture of the bone, such as cortical thinning, cortical porosity, and thinning and loss of trabeculae with loss of connectedness of trabeculae. Bone loss is progressive and is not associated with symptoms until a fracture occurs - the main clinical feature of osteoporosis. Recent finding Worldwide, osteoporosis causes more than 8.9 million fractures annually, resulting in an osteoporotic fracture every 3 s. Osteoporosis is estimated to affect 200 million women worldwide. Egyptian studies show that 53.9% of postmenopausal women have osteopenia, whereas 28.4% have osteoporosis, and 21.9% of men aged 20-89 years have osteoporosis. Conclusion As the clinical outcome of osteoporosis is bone fracture, attention is now increasingly focused on the identification of patients at high risk for fracture rather than the identification of people with osteoporosis as defined by bone mineral density alone.