Break a Hip and Die ?
Larrian Gillespie, The Hormone Diva
Even a minor accident or fall could result in a potentially disabling fracture for as many as 60 percent of Canadian women over age 50. That’s just one of the disturbing findings of the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CAMOS), a major, ongoing study of osteoporosis involving more than 9,000 people across Canada. This study is made possible by a recently renewed grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Although common in older people, osteoporosis is often not diagnosed or treated, according to CAMOS researchers. “We found a significant ‘osteoporosis care gap,’” says principal investigator, Dr. Alan Tenenhouse, Director of the Division of Bone Metabolism, Department of Medicine, McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). “Many cases of osteoporosis, especially in men, go undetected.”
People with untreated osteoporosis are at high risk for fractures. Hip fractures are particularly dangerous. About one quarter of the 25,000 Canadians who fracture a hip die within a year of their injury. Only half ever regain normal function. “Other fractures, including spinal fractures, also have a very negative impact on quality of life,” says Dr. Tenenhouse. “ That’s disturbing, because X-rays showed at least 15 percent of men and women over age 50 in our study had spinal fractures, although many of these did not cause symptoms.
“We found that even being diagnosed with osteoporosis caused a decline in quality of life, because people with the condition worry about the threat of fractures. The objective of CAMOS is to free older people in Canada from this threat.”
Phase 2 of CAMOS is now underway. .MORE ON THE HORMONE DIVA A LIST SITE cartoon
courtesy Dee Adams, minniepauz.com