In a recent issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians published guidance on various medicine-based treatments to prevent bone fractures in both men and women with osteoporosis, or low bone density.

Osteoporosis affects approximately 44 million Americans, or over half of adults aged 50 or older. An additional 34 million Americans are at an increased risk for osteoporosis due to low bone mass. In order to develop guidelines for preventing osteoporosis-related fractures, the authors searched multiple publications and clinical trials and issued the following recommendations:

     • Doctors should offer osteoporosis drugs to men and women with known osteoporosis, including those who have experienced fractures

     • Doctors should consider osteoporosis drugs for men and women who are risk for the development of osteoporosis

     • Doctors should weigh the risks and benefits in individual patients when selecting the most appropriate osteoporosis treatment

     • Further research should be performed to evaluate osteoporosis treatment options for men and women

Your doctor will be able to talk to you about the different drugs which have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment or prevention of osteoporosis. This is especially important because different drugs affect different parts of the skeletal system differently and drugs that are effective for preventing fractures of the spine may not necessarily be effective for fractures of bones in other parts of the body.