What Treatment Do European Women Take for Osteoporosis

The medical community in Europe is aggressively pursuing uniform treatment against osteoporosis. Called the "silent thief" or "silent epidemic", osteoporosis is the most common, debilitating and costly chronic disease of women in Europe. World Osteoporosis Day was celebrated on October 20, 2009 in the hopes to educate the public, medical community and policy makers of the global threat of this predominantly female disease. Therefore, it is prudent to ask, "What treatment do European women take for Osteoporosis?"

Prevention

• Prevention cannot be overemphasized and European women are learning to follow all the steps suggested for reducing risk. Some are obvious, like stopping smoking, not drinking to excess, and engaging in weight-bearing exercise.
  Other lifestyle recommendations include half an hour exposure to sunshine several times a week, eating foods rich in, or fortified with, vitamin D (milk or fatty fish). Foods rich in calcium are also important, including dairy products (skimmed milk, low-fat yogurts, cheese) and dark green leafy vegetables and broccoli.
  Efforts should be made to reduce the likelihood of falling in the home. Hazards such as poor lighting, loose carpeting and dangerous stair conditions should be reduced or eliminated. Wearing hip protectors are effective solutions for the very vulnerable older women.

  Educating osteoporosis patients and families about how to cope and take charge of their lives is as important as any adherence to medication, exercise or other therapy.
  Educational initiatives are assisting women manage the chronic pain and emotional stress of osteoporosis. Many women suffer from pain-related anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, a sense of loss associated with being unable to carry out familiar daily life activity.

Drug Therapies

• Most therapies attempt to slow bone loss, or best case, to increase bone mass with the most common drugs used in Europe such as calcltonin, bisphosphonates, alendronate sodium, fluorides and raloxifene.
  Anabolic treatment also looks promising in retaining and building bone.
  Hormone replacement therapy, until recently, was the gold standard in treating osteoporosis, but now women at risk must make difficult choices. Women must weigh the benefits of estrogen for osteoporosis and coronary heart disease against the potential increased risk of breast cancer and other as yet unknown side-effects.
  Many new drugs that come on the market may be available in Europe, or Asia, but not in the United States.

European Women Standing Tall

• In an ideal world, preventive measures would have begun early in life, before a woman reaches her early 30s, when bone mass reaches its peak. But with an aging population, women in Europe are urged to take positive action to strengthen and maintain bone mass all through their lives. It is believed that with the combined effort by the medical community, governments and the public, osteoporosis could be preventable.