Osteoporosis eMedicine Orthopedics

Description: Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease and represents an increasingly serious problem, particularly as the population ages. It has been most commonly recognized in elderly white women, although it does occur in both sexes, all races, and all age groups. Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization as a T-score of -2.5. T-score is the value compared to control subjects who are at their peak bone mineral density, while Z-score reflects a value compared to patients matched for age and sex.
Osteoporosis can result in devastating physical, psychosocial, and economic consequences. Despite its adverse effects, it is a condition that is often overlooked and undertreated, in large part because it is a clinically silent disease until it manifests in the form of fracture.
Synonyms and related keywords: porous bones, weak bones, metabolic bone disease, hip fracture, vertebral compression fracture, dowager hump, dowager's hump, scoliosis, collagen defect, bone fragility, decreased bone mass, decreased bone mineral density, decreased BMD
Lin & Lane 2008