China News Service, Beijing, October 20th (Zhang Yilin) Today is World Osteoporosis Day.
According to data released by the National Health Commission in 2018, osteoporosis has become an important health problem for people over 50 years old in China, but the residents' awareness of osteoporosis is generally insufficient.
What are the symptoms of osteoporosis?
How can we prevent it?
Data map.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Kejia
People over the age of 50 are prone to "fragile bones", women need to pay more attention
In 2018, the National Health Commission announced the results of the first osteoporosis epidemiological survey in China, showing that osteoporosis has become an important health problem for people over 50 years old in China, and the prevalence rate of osteoporosis in people over 50 years old is 19.2% Among them, the problem of osteoporosis in middle-aged and elderly women is particularly serious, with the prevalence rate as high as 32.1%.
According to Shi Yan, deputy chief physician of the Department of Orthopedics at Beijing Haidian Hospital, osteoporosis is a systemic bone disease characterized by low bone mass and bone microstructure destruction, resulting in increased bone fragility and prone to fractures.
Osteoporosis is divided into primary and secondary.
Among them, postmenopausal osteoporosis and senile osteoporosis are two common primary osteoporosis.
Senile osteoporosis is osteoporosis that occurs over 70 years of age.
Male bone mass will be higher at the same age, so the problem of osteoporosis in middle-aged and elderly women is particularly serious.
Postmenopausal osteoporosis generally occurs within about ten years of women's menopause. This type of osteoporosis is due to a large loss of bone mass caused by changes in hormone levels.
In other words, as people age, people will inevitably experience osteoporosis.
In addition, there will be differences between race and gender.
In addition, experts said that lack of exercise, smoking, excessive drinking, excessive consumption of caffeinated beverages, low weight, severe nutritional deficiency...These are all high risk factors for osteoporosis.
Data map: People line up for registration in the outpatient hall.
Photo by Tang Yanjun
Cramps, hunched back? Beware the bones are quietly becoming brittle
Experts emphasize that osteoporosis is a "secret killer" because many patients with osteoporosis often have no obvious symptoms in the early stages.
At the same time, according to a survey conducted by the National Health Commission, the awareness rate of osteoporosis-related knowledge among people over 20 years old is only 11.7%.
Residents generally lack awareness of osteoporosis, and the detection rate of bone mineral density needs to be improved urgently.
The public is not sufficiently aware of the importance of osteoporosis prevention. Some people think that it is unavoidable, and it is easy to ignore the disease.
According to experts, the typical symptoms of osteoporosis are as follows:
1. Pain: back pain or body pain may occur;
2. Shorter height and hunched back: the most common symptoms;
3. Repeated cramps: cramps often occur at night when sleeping, it is likely to be caused by low body calcium content;
4. Decreased respiratory function: patients with severe compression fractures of the thoracic and lumbar spine, vertebral curvature, and thoracic deformities may have symptoms such as chest tightness, shortness of breath, and difficulty breathing.
5. Fragile fractures: Fractures that occur under slight external force are the most common and serious complication of osteoporosis. The most common sites are spine and hip fractures, including shoulder joints, wrist joints, and pelvis.
Experts emphasize that hip fractures are one of the most common fractures in the elderly, and are often referred to as "the last fracture in life."
Due to the high risk of surgical treatment of fractures in the elderly, bed rest for a long time will cause further bone loss and increase osteoporosis, enter a vicious circle, and even cause serious bedridden diseases such as pneumonia, bedsores, and thrombosis, which are life-threatening.
Therefore, some osteoporosis patients slip and fall in the bathroom, or fractures caused by sneezing or coughing in severe cases may cause serious consequences.
Data map: 1 minute self-test for osteoporosis.
Source: Chinese Preventive Medicine Association
Early prevention and early treatment to strengthen the bones
Osteoporosis is a quiet disease. In the process of getting older, many middle-aged and elderly people do not realize that bones and time are lost silently, and osteoporosis comes quietly.
According to experts, to be alert to the risk of osteoporosis, you can use the one-minute test for osteoporosis risk designed by the International Osteoporosis Foundation, or the osteoporosis evaluation tool for Asians, for simple scoring and comparison.
In addition, go to regular hospitals to check bone density regularly.
For example, dual-energy X-ray bone densitometer is the current gold standard for diagnosis in bone density testing.
For patients diagnosed with osteoporosis, fracture prevention is the number one goal, and they need to seek medical treatment in time, follow doctor's advice, and cooperate with medication or surgery.
Experts emphasize that surgery is actually just a remedy.
Although osteoporosis is "old age suffering", it can often be traced back to "young people burying troubles."
Therefore, early prevention is the best way to delay the development of osteoporosis.
In daily life, you can prevent osteoporosis by taking more milk, paying attention to a balanced diet, reasonable nutrition, moderate exercise, quitting smoking, restricting alcohol, and being in the sun.
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