Men Get Osteoporosis, Too

Robert W. Griffith, MD

About 2 million US men have osteoporosis, and another 12 million are at risk for the disease. Apart from the usual risk factors (steroid use, some antacids, low testosterone level, smoking, etc), two recent reports serve to remind us that men can get the disease, too. First, older people with diabetes, both men and women, have a higher risk of hip fracture. A report from Canada was published in the journal Diabetes Care showing that the risk of hip fracture in men was 18% higher in those with type 2 diabetes. The reason for this is not entirely clear, but the increase is statistically significant (i.e. it could not be ascribed to chance). In fact, it doesn't seem to be related to bone mineral density, which is generally higher in diabetes. One proposal is that the increased weight seen in diabetics might be responsible. Women diabetics had an increase of 11% in their risk.

The second report concerns men on androgen-depleting therapy for prostate cancer. It's published in the Journal of Urology, and describes how periodontal disease is more frequent (80%) in men on androgen-depleting therapy than in those not taking such therapy (3.7%). This was found to be related to decreased bone mineral density in the treated men.

Awareness of the possibility of osteoporosis in men is probably important chiefly for men who don't exercise, eat unwisely (low calcium and vitamin D intake), smoke, drink too much, or have low testosterone levels. In that case, a bone-mineral density test may be in order.

Source
HealthandAge Blog

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