Osteoporosis develops when your bones lose minerals faster than your body replaces them, so that your bones become fragile and brittle. The more fragile your bones are, the more likely they are to fracture or break. A minor incident that might normally result in a bruise or a scratch in a healthy adult can cause a fracture or break in someone with osteoporosis. 

Osteoporosis can significantly affect day-to-day activities. Just over one-third of people with osteoporosis experience some limitations to their core activities and 15% experience severe restrictions in their daily life. 

Effective medicines are available to treat osteoporosis and help avoid fractures. Improving your diet and lifestyle and reducing your risk of falls can also help.

Complications of osteoporosis

The most common osteoporotic fractures happen in the hips, spine and wrists. These types of fractures can cause long-term pain, disability and loss of independence.

Osteoporotic fractures that occur in the spine can also lead to changes in your posture (eg, stooped back) and loss of height.

Those at higher risk of osteoporosis include postmenopausal women and older people.

Postmenopausal women are at particular risk because after menopause their bodies produce less of the female sex hormone, oestrogen, which plays an important role in maintaining bone strength.

Many other factors, including your lifestyle, diet, family history and having certain medical conditions, can affect your bones and increase osteoporosis risk, as can the long-term use of some medicines (eg, corticosteroids).

A diagnosis of osteoporosis needs to be confirmed by a doctor. If you are at high risk of osteoporosis, or your doctor thinks you already have it, they may suggest a test called a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA/DEXA) scan to measure your bone mineral density (BMD). This test is quick and painless, like an X-ray.

The scan produces a result called a T-score which shows how different your BMD is from the BMD of an average young adult. 

• If you have osteoporosis, your T-score will be –2.5 or lower. The lower your T-score, the more brittle your bones are, and the greater your risk of fracture.
• If your bones are weaker than normal, but your T-score is not low enough for an osteoporosis diagnosis, then the doctor may tell you that you have osteopenia (this means the protein and mineral content of your bone tissue is reduced, but less severely than in osteoporosis).

A diagnosis of osteopenia is an early warning sign that you should be taking action to reduce your risk of osteoporosis.

• taking osteoporosis medicines
• ensuring that you obtain sufficient calcium and/or vitamin D 
• making lifestyle changes
• reducing your risk of falls.

Find out more about managing osteoporosis.

References 

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. A snapshot of osteoporosis in Australia 2011. [Online] (accessed 27 April 2017).
  
• Bliuc D, Nguyen ND, Nguyen, TV. et al. Compound risk of high mortality following osteoporotic fracture and refracture in elderly women and men. J Bone Miner Res 2013;2317-24. [PubMed].
  
• National Institute of Clinical Studies. Evidence-Practice gaps report volume 2. Melbourne:NICS, 2005. [Online] (accessed 7 July 2015).
  
• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Estimating the prevalence of osteoporosis in Australia. Canberra: AIHW, 2014. [Online] (accessed 17 August 2015).
  

The following links have further information on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment for osteoporosis.

• Download brochures from Osteoporosis Australia
• Read the Better Health Channel website on osteoporosis
• Read Choice: preventing and treating osteoporosis