Definition

Osteoporosis is a general disease which attacks and destroys the skeleton.

It is defined as both quantitative and qualitative bone loss.

It generally begins around the time of the menopause – at about fifty years of age – and affects women in the great majority. From the age of about 80, osteoporosis affects both sexes equally.

At an advanced stage, in extreme old age, abnormally high levels of bone loss and disorganisation of skeletal architecture will have an effect on the mechanical strength of this rigid framework.

A movement or a fall, which under normal circumstances would not have any effect on someone with normal bone mass, can cause three fractures in osteoporosis sufferers :

• Wrist fracture
• Vertebral fracture
• Hip fracture