(Press-News.org) Nyon, Switzerland (October 9, 2014) – Alarming new data published today by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), shows that one-third of all hip fractures worldwide occur in men, with mortality rates as high as 37% in the first year following fracture. This makes men twice as likely as women to die after a hip fracture. Osteoporosis experts warn that as men often remain undiagnosed and untreated, millions are left vulnerable to early death and disability, irrespective of fracture type.
The report entitled 'Osteoporosis in men: why change needs to happen' is released ahead of World Osteoporosis Day on October 20, and highlights that the ability of men to live independent pain-free lives into old age is being seriously compromised. Continued inaction will lead to millions of men being dependent on long-term care with health and social care systems tested to the limit.
Often mistakenly considered a woman's disease, osteoporotic fractures affect one in five men aged over 50 years. However, this number is predicted to rise dramatically as the world's men are ageing fast. From 1950–2050 there will have been a 10-fold increase in the number of men aged 60 years or more – rising from 90 million to 900 million – the age group most at risk of osteoporosis.
Men are the 'weaker sex' in terms of death and disability caused by osteoporosis as their bone health is simply being ignored by health-care systems. A study from the USA has shown that men were 50% less likely to receive treatment than women. As governments and health-care systems focus on diseases such as cancer and heart disease, this 'silent killer' is not being recognized as a threat and affecting an increasing number of victims.
Professor John A. Kanis, President, IOF said "It is estimated that the lifetime risk of experiencing an osteoporotic fracture in men over the age of 50 years is up to 27%, higher than that of developing prostate cancer. Yet, an inadequate amount of health-care resources are being invested in bone, muscle and joint diseases. We have proven cost-effective solutions available, such as Fracture Liaison Services that can help identify those at risk and avoid a continuous cascade of broken bones. People should not have to live with the pain and suffering caused by osteoporosis as we can help prevent and control the disease".
Osteoporosis is a disease that affects the bones, causing them to become weak and fragile and more likely to break/fracture. All types of fractures, e.g. spine and hip, lead to higher death rates in men when compared to women. If health-care professionals identified osteoporotic men after their first bone break this would dramatically reduce their risk of future fractures and early death. Yet fewer than 20% of these men are being assessed and treated.
Lead author of the report, Professor Peter Ebeling (IOF board member and Head, Department of Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia) said, "In the EU, projections suggest that by 2025 the total number of fractures in men will increase by 34%, to almost 1.6 million cases per year. In the USA the number of hip fractures among men is expected to increase by 51.8% from the year 2010 to 2030, and in contrast the number among women is expected to decrease 3.5%. A battle is set to rage between the quantity and quality of life. We must act now to ensure men not only live longer but also have a future free of the pain and suffering caused by osteoporotic fractures".
INFORMATION:
Download 'Osteoporosis in men: why change needs to happen' (available in seven languages) at http://www.worldosteoporosisday.org/resources
Access full media kit: http://www.worldosteoporosisday.org/press-centre
About World Osteoporosis Day
World Osteoporosis Day is observed annually on 20 October, and marks the beginning of a year-long campaign dedicated to raising global awareness of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and related musculoskeletal diseases. Led by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), it generates worldwide media and assists with public awareness campaigns organized by more than 200 national osteoporosis patient and medical societies from around the world with activities in over 90 countries.
http://www.worldosteoporosisday.org; http://www.facebook.com/worldosteoporosisday; #LoveYourBones
World Osteoporosis Day is supported globally by unrestricted educational grants from Amgen, Fonterra, Lilly, MSD, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare.
About IOF
The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is the world's largest nongovernmental organization dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and related musculoskeletal diseases. IOF members, including committees of scientific researchers, leading companies, as well as more than 200 patient, medical and research societies, work together to make bone, joint and muscle health a worldwide heath care priority.
http://www.iofbonehealth.org
http://www.facebook.com/iofbonehealth;
http://www.twitter.com/iofbonehealth
(PHILADELPHIA) -- The genetic fingerprint of a metastatic cancer is constantly changing, which means that the therapy that may have stopped a patient's cancer growth today, won't necessarily work tomorrow. Although doctors can continue to biopsy the cancer during the course of the treatment and send samples for genomic analysis, not all patients can receive repeat biopsies. Taking biopsies from metastatic cancer patients is an invasive procedure that it is frequently impossible due to the lack of accessible lesions. Research published October 10th in the journal Breast ...
When a woman is in labour, the appropriate time to give an epidural during childbirth is when she asks for it, a new study suggests. Published in The Cochrane Library, the systematic review compared early and late epidurals during labour and found that they had very similar effects.
An epidural is a pain relieving local anaesthetic that is given as an injection into the spine. It is commonly offered to women in labour who request pain relief and is effective in reducing pain. However, previous studies have suggested that the timing of an epidural can prolong the duration ...
New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that women who eat fried food regularly before conceiving are at increased risk of developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy. The research is led by Drs Cuilin Zhang and Wei Bao, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD, part of the US National Institutes of Health) Rockville, MD, USA, and colleagues.
Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a complication that can arise during pregnancy, and is characterised by abnormally ...
Online learning interventions and small group debriefings can improve medical residents' attitudes and communication skills toward patients with substance use disorders, and may result in improved care for these patients, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University College of Medicine published online in Academic Medicine.
The study used a novel internet-based learning module designed to improve the communication skills of primary care physicians during screenings and brief counseling sessions with ...
BOSTON (October 9, 2014) –A new form of gene therapy for boys with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID-X1), a life-threatening condition also known as "bubble boy" disease, appears to be both effective and safe, according to a collaborative research team from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and other institutions conducting an international clinical trial. Early data suggest that the therapy may avoid the late-developing leukemia seen in a quarter of SCID-X1 patients in pioneering gene therapy trials in Europe more ...
NEW YORK, NY – Cardiovascular scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified in mouse models a protein known as Pcp4 as a regulator of the heart's rhythm. Additionally, when the Pcp4 gene is disrupted, it can cause ventricular arrhythmias.
Results from this animal study were released online Oct. 8 in the peer-reviewed publication, The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
"This study demonstrates that Purkinje cell protein-4 (Pcp4) is not only important in maintaining the heart's normal rhythmic behavior, but that when Pcp4 expression is reduced, it short-circuits ...
BOSTON – The DNA of a woman whose lethal thyroid cancer unexpectedly "melted away" for 18 months has revealed new mechanisms of cancer response and resistance to the drug everolimus, said researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
The investigators discovered two previously unknown mutations in the cancer's DNA. One made the woman's cancer extraordinarily sensitive to everolimus, accounting for the remarkably long-lasting response. The second mutation was found in the DNA of her tumor after it had evolved resistance ...
WHAT:
Researchers have found that gene therapy using a modified delivery system, or vector, can restore the immune systems of children with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1), a rare, life-threatening inherited condition that primarily affects boys. Previous efforts to treat SCID-X1 with gene therapy were initially successful, but approximately one-quarter of the children developed leukemia two to five years after treatment. Results from a study partially funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National ...
(NEW YORK – October 08, 2014) Many children may become allergic to peanuts before they first eat them, and skin exposure may be contribute to early sensitization, according to a study in mice led by Mount Sinai researchers and published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Early in the process of developing an allergy, skin exposure to food allergens contributes to "sensitization", which means the skin is reactive to an antigen, such as peanuts, especially by repeated exposure.
The question of how peanut allergies start is an important one, given the ...
Last spring, the Colorado River reached its delta for the first time in 16 years, flowing into Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of California after wetting 70 miles of long-dry channels through the Sonoran Desert. The planned 8-week burst of water from Mexico's Morelos Dam on the Arizona-Mexico border was the culmination of years of diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Mexico and campaigning from scientists and conservation organizations. Now ecologists wait to see how the short drink of water will affect the parched landscape.
This year's spring pulse held ...
