Osteoporosis
A systemic loss of bone strength that is usually silent until a fragility fracture, assessed with clinical fracture risk and bone density and managed with falls prevention, risk-appropriate bone protection and planned treatment follow-up.
Definition
Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder in which reduced bone strength increases fragility-fracture risk. Bone mineral density is an important component of diagnosis and risk assessment, but fracture history, falls, age, treatment exposure and secondary causes also influence management.
First principles
Fracture risk is more than a bone-density number
Bone strength depends on bone mass, microarchitecture, turnover, age, previous fractures, falls and secondary causes. DXA measures bone mineral density, but clinical risk factors can raise fracture risk even when the T-score is not in the osteoporotic range and can make FRAX underestimate risk.
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