Osteoporosis and the hormonal regulation of bone metabolism [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONThe steadily increasing number of publications and scientific conferences devoted to osteoporosis is evidence of the interest aroused by this disease. There appear to be two main reasons for this phenomenon. The medical profession and all the influential people concerned with public health have become aware of the socioeconomic burden this disease imposes. In addition, the recent advances made in our knowledge and understanding of bone metabolism have given us a greater insight into osteoporosis.Osteoporosis is neither a medical curiosity nor a benign disease. It is a malady whose incidence rises with age, and consequently the steady increase in life expectancy and the aging of the population that is its corollary (Fig. 1) make osteoporosis a real public health problem, for a total of 15 to 20 million patients are affected. Every year there are 1.3 million fractures due to osteoporosis among subjects over 45 years of age. Thirty-two per cent of women and 17% of men over 90 years of age suffer a fracture of the femoral neck. In France some 30,000 fractures of the femoral neck are recorded every year whereas in Switzerland about 12% of the population is affected by osteoporosis.At the same time a much improved knowledge of the pathophysiology of the disease has made it possible to envisage a more effective treatment. In particular the advent of new non-invasive techniques for measuring the bone density of the various parts of the skeleton affected enables the efficacy of proposed treatments to be assessed with greater accuracy.Treatment, whether curative or, more especially, preventive, must satisfy two essential requirements.