Women's Health

Women and Osteoporosis

Although men can get osteoporosis, women make up the majority of people affected by the disease – 80%, according to the National Institutes of Health. 

Consider these facts from the National Women’s Resource Center: 

• Women are four times more likely than men to get osteoporosis.
• The number of fractures in women caused by osteoporosis is greater than the number of heart attacks, strokes and cases of breast cancer combined.
• Women can lose up to 20% of their bone mass in the first five to seven years after menopause.

Why Bone Density Testing Is Important

Osteoporosis is a treatable disease that thins and weakens your bones. Up until age 30, your body builds more new bone tissue than it breaks down, but that changes as you get older. In the first few years after menopause, most women go through rapid bone loss. Although the process slows, it continues during your postmenopausal years. Bone loss related to osteoporosis usually doesn’t cause symptoms in the early stages. In fact, many women don’t realize they have the disease until they start to feel pain or break a bone. At St. Elizabeth Healthcare, we’re committed to helping you prevent osteoporosis-related fractures and slow bone loss. We offer individual assessments and bone density testing to identify and treat the disease to prevent broken bones.

What You Can Do to Prevent Bone Loss

Our healthcare experts offer advice to help slow bone loss with healthy lifestyle changes, such as:

• Don’t smoke – quit today with our Freshstart program.
• Exercise regularly.
• Get enough calcium and vitamin D.
• Limit alcohol to no more than one drink a day.