Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by brittle, easily fractured bones that is associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and healthcare cost. It is caused by dysregulation of the hormone-regulated bone remodeling system that leads to a loss of bone mineral density. Risk factors for male osteoporosis include age-associated hormone changes, alcoholism, smoking, some medications, including those used in the treatment of prostate cancer.
Osteoporosis can be prevented and even treated using a wide range of therapies. Common prevention measures include calcium and vitamin D supplements, regular exercise. Screening test such as the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan is also available. But, even now, there is no established national consensus guiding doctors of when and what to prescribe. Treatment strategies include bisphosphonates, which have been shown to prevent further bone loss, but it is inconvenient, sometimes expensive, and may cause serious side effects. To find out how clinicians were managing osteoporosis risk in the U.S. in year 2003 and identify factors that might predict who gets treated, Tawee Tanvetyanon, M.D. from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine reviewed the sampled records of 184 prostate cancer patients who received androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), which is known to raise t
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Contact: David Greenberg
dgreenbe@wiley.com
201-748-6484
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
13-Dec-2004