Osteoporosis - News
Postmenopausal women may lessen their chances of fracturing a hip by adding soy-based foods to their diet, a study from Singapore hints. Women in the study were 21 to 36 percent less likely to fracture a hip when they reported eating a moderate amount of soy, Dr.
Important news for seniors: A daily dose of vitamin D cuts your risk of falling substantially, researchers reported today. But not just any dose will do. "It takes 700 to 1000 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day and nothing less will work," Dr.
People who suffer from major depression are at risk for low bone mineral density (BMD), research hints. In the last 14 years, "ample research" has implicated major depression in bone loss and the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, Dr.
A lawsuit alleging that Merck & Co's osteoporosis drug Fosamax (generic name alendronate sodium) caused jaw damage ended in a mistrial on Friday. Fosamax is used to treat and prevent osteoporosis, a condition characterized by a decrease in bone mass and density, causing bones to become fragile and prone to fracture.
A Manhattan federal judge has rejected Merck & Co's effort to dismiss 24 cases alleging that its Fosamax drug treatment for osteoporosis causes jaw damage. In an opinion released Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Keenan ruled that the plaintiffs could introduce testimony by two doctors to show that the drug can cause jaw damage after less than three years of continuous use.
Jurors heard sharply different closing arguments on Wednesday in a trial over whether or not Merck & Co's Fosamax drug treatment for osteoporosis caused a Florida woman's jaw damage. The trial in New York is Merck's first out of some 1,280 plaintiff groups involving almost 900 cases over U.
Premature infants with very low birth weight have less dense bones later in life than their peers born at term with normal weight, Finnish researchers have found. This may boost their risk of the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis in adulthood, the study team notes.
New findings call into question the idea that being overweight or obese might protect people from developing brittle bones. Dr. Jean-Marc Kaufman of Ghent University Hospital in Belgium and his colleagues found that fattier men had smaller, thinner bones, while those with more lean mass had larger, denser skeletons.
Hip fracture rates have declined among the elderly for a variety of reasons, but the disabling injury is still a major health threat as populations age, Canadian researchers said on Tuesday. A steady year-over-year decline in fracture rates since 1985 predates widespread use of drugs used to treat osteoporosis and preserve bone density, the researchers said, even though drugs that first entered the market in the mid-1990s likely played a role.
The number of Americans hospitalized for osteoporosis-related fractures and other injuries has climbed 55 percent since 1995, a U.S. government report finds. In 2006, Americans had more than 254,000 hospital stays for injuries related to the bone-thinning disease -- with fractures of the hip, spine and ribs among the most common, according to the study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Two existing drugs used to treat osteoporosis may be effective in killing influenza viruses, including the new H1N1 swine flu and the H5N1 bird flu viruses, researchers in Hong Kong have found. The two drugs are pamidronate and zoledronate, which are marketed by Novartis AG under the brand names Aredia and Reclast, respectively.
Serious infections and cancer cases must be considered as U.S. advisers weigh the future of Amgen's most important experimental drug, regulatory reviewers said in documents released on Tuesday. Amgen is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval to sell denosumab, a potential blockbuster, under the brand name Prolia.
Men and women who break their hip or backbone are at increased risk of dying prematurely, according to a study published this week. According to the results, about 25 percent of men and women who fracture their hip and 16 percent who fracture their spine will die over a 5-year period.
Women who maintain a healthy, well-balanced diet during pregnancy have children with bigger and stronger bones than women with poorer quality diets, according to the results of a study presented Tuesday at the National Osteoporosis Society Conference in Manchester, UK.
Routine testing of bone thickness is not needed and may be misleading in postmenopausal women who have been taking Fosamax (alendronate) and related bone-building drugs for 3 years, according to a report in the British Medical Journal.
The dramatic and sustained increase in bone turnover that occurs following surgery for obesity, or "bariatric surgery," translates into a significantly increased risk of fractures, especially in the hands and feet, according to a study presented today at The Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Washington, DC.
In nursing home residents who've had a hip fracture, bedsores and pneumonia are two key risk factors for death, according to a report in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences. While both of these problems can be addressed, preventing hip fractures in the first place would be a better strategy, Dr.
Professional ballerinas, like highly driven young female athletes, face quadruple health threats -- disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction, the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, and early signs of cardiovascular disease.
Even short-term use of popular acid-reducing heartburn drugs may raise the risk of hip fractures, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The increased risks appeared two years after patients started taking proton pump inhibitors such as Prevacid, and histamine-2 receptor antagonists, or H2RAs, such as Zantac, researchers at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco told the Digestive Diseases Week meeting in Chicago.
Stroke patients have an 80 percent higher risk of fracturing a hip or thigh than people who have not had a stroke, researchers reported here at the European Symposium on Calcified Tissues (ESCT). Dr. Frank de Vries, assistant professor at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, presented results from a case-control study that enrolled 33,104 individuals drawn from a nationwide database.
New findings show that women who are 55 years of age or older who have an increased risk of bone fracture because of their family history or steroid use, for example, tend not to perceive their heightened risk. The findings, reported here at the European Symposium on Calcified Tissues (ESCT), come from the Global Longitudinal Study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW).
A class of drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors, commonly used to treat people with Alzheimer's disease, appear to increase the risk of fainting, Canadian and US researchers report. "These drugs can sometimes slow the heart rate and provoke fainting," lead investigator Dr.
A dying Farrah Fawcett is caught in the middle of a legal battle between her longtime companion, Ryan O'Neal, and a producer who has worked with the "Charlie's Angels" star during her fight with cancer. The dispute centers on the TV documentary "Farrah's Story," which is set to air on NBC on Friday.
Postmenopausal vegans and meat-eaters may have similar bone density, despite vegans' lower calcium and protein intake, a small study suggests. Vegan diets are free of all animal products, including eggs and dairy; one concern has been that female vegans might not get enough of certain nutrients, including calcium, to maintain a healthy bone mass.
Researchers in South Korea have identified genes that are linked to key indicators such as blood pressure and bone density that have a bearing on chronic diseases such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.
There is an increased prevalence of backbone or "vertebral" fractures in children with arthritis and other "chronic rheumatic diseases," according to Canadian researchers. "Our study has demonstrated that vertebral fractures are not an uncommon sequelae among this high-risk population," lead investigator Dr.
Women who get some sun during the last trimester of pregnancy may have children with stronger bones, a new study suggests. UK researchers found that among nearly 7,000 10-year-olds they assessed, those whose mothers were in their last trimester during sunny months tended to have larger bones.
The makers of osteoporosis drug Actonel are testing a program to reimburse an insurer for the cost of treating non-spinal bone fractures among women who take the prescription pill. The move, meant to demonstrate confidence in the effectiveness of Actonel, comes as it faces new competition in the United States from lower-priced generic forms of Merck & Co's rival Fosamax osteoporosis drug.
New research suggests that having a bone mineral density below normal ("osteopenia") or having an even greater loss of bone density resulting in fragile porous bones ("osteoporosis"), which are both caused by a lack of calcium, are more common in men and women who also have benign positional vertigo than in their peers without this condition.
Older people can prevent fractures by taking vitamin D supplements, a new study confirms, as long as they use a high enough dose-and keep taking it. "Everyone age 65 and older should take vitamin D in a dose close to 800 IU per day, best as vitamin D3, and with good adherence," Dr.
