Under this new definition, 6.

Heavy thinning bones or osteoporosis (from the Greek meaning "porous bone") can lead to increased risk of fractures. There is no dispute that either. To determine whether a person is at risk of osteoporosis, doctors often rely on test called T-scores. This is where "what to do with the" complexity begins. Or not, everyone chooses to treat osteoporosis (defined as lower than normal bone density and is often considered a harbinger of osteoporosis) is to call the court and weighing the risks of treatment versus risk waiting for that to happen. Bone density in women compared to "normal" or typical bone density Caucasian women aged 20 to 29. If bone density is normal patient, her score will be zero if someone is very thin bone, its rating may be 3. But because bone loss occurs naturally with age, many older women will automatically fall into the negative range. This is where it gets tricky.

World Health Organization defines osteoporosis as bone mineral density (T-score) of below -2. 5 and osteopenia as a T-score -1 to -2. 5. But in 2003 the National Endowment for osteoporosis and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology changed their principles, recommends that women with T scores lower than 2. 0 treat osteoporosis, rather than the current threshold of 2. 5. Under this new definition, 6. 7000000 American women were immediately "diagnosis" osteoporosis and is recommended for treatment - with costs at least $ 28 lasix buy billion, according to a study in 2007. Use 2. 0 threshold, more than half of Americans aged 65 and older marked with osteoporosis. Some experts believe that the label itself osteopenia is overly broad and misleading. "Osteopenia normal," says Dr. Nortin Hadler, rheumatologist at the University of North Carolina and author of "Worried sick. Recipe for Health in Overtreated America. " "It's like gray hair"

"If you look at how we define osteopenia, defined very crudely with a very low sensitivity," he says. "So, almost everyone who is in osteopenia group who are going to get a fragility fracture. They are simply a greater risk. "

Preparations for the treatment of osteopenia and osteoporosis, called bisphosphonates (eg, bonds, helps Sally Field) to increase bone mineralization. But the treatment itself can cause problems. In some women, bisphosphonates can cause ulcers in the esophagus and lead to bone necrosis or bone death. Dr. Alexander Fishberh, medical director of the Center for Family Medicine at the hospital in Florida, acknowledges that some doctors were trapped in the treatment of osteoporosis as a disease rather than risk. "I think that some women are treated, where the risk of fracture is very low," says Fishberh. .