Lifestyle measures such as maintaining a body mass index (BMI) higher than 20; avoiding cigarette smoking and daily alcohol consumption; and balance, strength, and resistance training exercises can help older adults prevent fractures.

How to Prevent Fractures?
Dietary calcium (1000-1200 mg daily) and vitamin D (600-800 international units daily) from supplements and foods such as cow’s milk, fortified orange juice, plant-based beverages such as soy or oat milk, eggs, and fatty fish are important for maintaining bone health.

to reduce the risk of rare thigh bone fractures or deterioration of bone in the jaw.

Anabolic medications (teriparatide, abaloparatide, and romosozumab) help prevent fractures by stimulating bone formation. These meds are recommended for severe osteoporosis with multiple/recent spine/hip fractures.

Antiresorptive drugs (bisphosphonates and denosumab) decrease the natural breakdown of bone tissue and help reduce spine and hip fractures among high-risk patients. However, if bone health has stabilized, patients may discontinue bisphosphonates after 3 to 5 years of treatment

The Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) predicts the likelihood of a hip, spine, shoulder, or forearm fracture over th
e next 10 years based on a patient’s risk factors and DEXA bone mineral density results.

DEXA results are reported as a T score, which compares a patient’s bone mineral density with that of a young adult. Patients with a T score of −2.5 or less have osteoporosis.

A common method used to screen for and diagnose osteoporosis is dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), low-dose x-ray imaging that measures calcium and other minerals in the bones to determine their strength (bone mineral density).

inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic kidney and liver disease; and menopause before age 40 years.

Many with osteoporosis have no symptoms. Some learn they have osteoporosis after having a painful fracture or after an imaging test shows a fractured vertebra in their spine.

Risk factors for osteoporosis include older age; female sex; prior fractures or falls; low body weight; having a parent who had a hip fracture; using oral steroid medications such as prednisone; cigarette smoking; excessive alcohol use; certain medical conditions:

In 2019, 8 million women and 6 million men aged 50 years or older worldwide sustained a hip fracture—the most serious consequence of osteoporosis. About 24% of people with a hip fracture die within a year of their fracture.

Worldwide, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men older than 50 years have a bone fracture due to osteoporosis during their lifetime. Fractures most commonly associated with osteoporosis involve the hip, spine, shoulder, forearm, and pelvis.