NOF Tip for 17 May – The Osteoporosis Risk Equation

If you fracture, your risk of a second fracture within a year is 3 to 5 times as great!  If that first or second fracture is a hip, you have a 25% chance of dying and a 25% chance of spending the rest of your life in a nursing home.  Scary.

Sometimes nutrition and lifestyle changes are enough.  Often medications are needed to effect real improvement.  The anabolic medications Teriparatide (Forteo), Abaloparatide (Tymlos), and Romosozumab (Evenity) not only prevent further fractures by increasing bone mass, but also speed healing.  The antiresorptive medications decrease fracture risk by preventing bone loss.

The NOF video at https://vimeo.com/267839997 discusses the likelihood of benefit in relation to the very small risk of harm from antiresorptive medications.

Understand the relative risks of taking a medication compared to the relative risks involved in not taking a medication.

Jay Ginther, MD

Categorised in: Bone Health, Fracture, Medications, Osteoporosis