Underscoring what researchers call a serious global public health concern, results from a new study led by Columbia University Medical Center reveal that many women at an elevated level of risk for osteoporosis-associated fractures fail to perceive the implications of the risk factors.
"We found that many women aren't making the connection between their risk factors and the serious consequences of fractures," said the lead author Ethel Siris, M.D., director of the Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and the Madeline C. Stabile Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. "Without a clear understanding of their risks, women cannot begin to protect themselves from fracture."
This study, part of the Global Longitudinal Study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW), which is based at the Center for Outcomes Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was published online by the journal Osteoporosis International on April 2, 2010. The study, conducted at 17 GLOW study sites worldwide, included more than 60,000 postmenopausal women in 10 countries in Europe, North America and Australia.
Results showed that among postmenopausal women diagnosed with osteoporosis a condition associated with a high risk for fractures, as it causes bones to become fragile and more likely to break only 43 percent thought their risk of a fracture was higher than other women their age. Additionally, only one in three (33 percent) women who reported two or more major risk factors for fracture, perceived themselves as being at higher risk for fracture than their age-matched peers.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/184719.php
I"m a bit baffled by these stats. Am I to interpret that doctors aren't taking the time to drive home the point that osteoporosis has a higher rate of fracture than the normal population? Or are women just letting it go in one ear and out the other.