Osteoporosis Risk Factors

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Now Playing: Osteoporosis Risk Factors

Reviewed By: Varnada Karriem-Norwood,

SOURCES: Ethel Siris, MD Dir., Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center Columbia University Medical Center President, National Osteoporosis Foundation Director, National Osteoporosis Risk Assessment Study (NORA)

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Narrator:

What are the risk factors for osteoporosis?

Ethel Siris, MD:

Well osteoporosis is more common in women than men and it's particularly an issue after the menopause because when you stop producing estrogen, you will start losing bone. Other risk factors could include being thinner. A person who is under 125 pounds is at higher risk than somebody who is heavier. Having a family history of osteoporosis. If your mother or father has broken a hip or has had other fractures, that's a risk factor. There are lots of medications that you might be taking, such as steroids, some of the anti-seizure medications. There's a long, long list of medications that can increase risks. If you've ever had a fracture, you're at much higher risk of having another fracture. If you smoke, if you drink too much alcohol, more than you know a few drinks a day, is going to increase your risk of fracturing. Those are the more common ones.

Narrator:

What are the main medical conditions that are risk factors for osteoporosis?

Ethel Siris, MD:

One of the important medical conditions would be having a malabsorption disorder, such as celiac disease or sprue. You don't absorb certain nutrients. Anorexia nervosa in younger women can lead to difficulties in making bone and maintaining bone because of the loss of estrogen and the poor nutrition. Certain cancers uh are associated with having osteoporosis because of the treatments that are used, chemotherapies. Women who have breast cancer and who are treated with aromatase inhibitors, the newer drugs that are being used to protect them against recurrence. And they are wonderful drugs, unfortunately are associated with a little bit of bone loss, so that's something that has to be taken into account. Men who've had prostate cancer and are treated by having their testosterone levels lowered are at increased risk of osteoporosis and fracture. Other medical conditions that we pay attention to are you know kidney diseases, kidney failure, liver failure. Those are all conditions that can also contribute. Hyper-thyroidism can be associated with bone loss. Taking thyroid supplements in excessive dosages can be associated with bone loss. We know that type 1 diabetics, the ones who absolutely require insulin, that is associated with increased risk for osteoporosis, and there is some evidence that type 2 diabetes is also somewhat at risk for, uh those patients are somewhat at risk for developing osteoporosis.