Under the slogan’ Don’t bend to osteoporosis..Don’t miss the signs of a breaking spine’ the world has celebrated the World Osteoporosis Day (WOD) ON 20 October. This silent disease, which millions of people around the world suffers from.
Ministry of Health Information and Health Awareness Center Issued a report about this event that indicates this year WOD that focuses on preventing spinal fractures that usually results from osteoporosis. The report estimates that half of the fractures don't get the needed clinical attention or are untreated. Although most of them cause disability and pain, these are often ignored or misdiagnosed as a muscle strain or arthritis. This disease still suffers from the lack of public awareness, and needs to be coordinated on awareness and educational level; specially that previous efforts had succeeded noticeably year after the other.
The report has also clarified that WOD main goal are drawing attention to the signs of spinal fractures, and giving priority to early check up and diagnose, preventative spinal fracture treatments and measures, raising the public awareness toward the consequences of osteoporosis, as well as enhancing bones condition by having a healthy lifestyle in addition to motivating officials to reduce osteoporosis cases.
This disease is called the silent disease cause it has no clear symptoms, where the bone mass reduces causing no pain at all until a fracture occurs. Due to this fact early check up is highly important.
Osteoporosis is usually diagnosed by the physical form and by measuring the bone mineral density .In addition to several risk factors such as sex, age, family history, old fractures, menstrual history or hysterectomy, rheumatoid arthritis, deficiency of estrogen in females and androgens in males.
Moreover, Dr. Ali Sadat has conducted a study recently in the Kingdom on a group of females after menopause, published in a Saudi medical periodical in 2004.The study has showed that osteoporosis diagnoses has reached 30.5% of the low back samples and 31,6% of the hip samples. On the other hand, Dr. Dosogi and Dr. Sulaimani have conducted a new study on a group of Saudi males, published in a Saudi medical periodical in 2007,showed that osteoporosis diagnoses has reached 35.7% of the low back samples and 38% of the hip samples.