Osteoporosis is a silent disease. Lack of exercise, smoking, use of hard drinks and junk food with lesser nutritional ingredients, excessive use of tea, carbonated drinks and drugs containing corticosteroids, alcohol and heparin are the main causes of osteoporosis.
More than 75 million people world-wide are affected by osteoporosis whereas in Pakistan it is estimated that over 40 percent of Pakistani women will suffer from osteoporosis and the first vertebral fracture will not be diagnosed. In Pakistan there are 9.91 million people with osteoporosis out of which 7.19 million are females and 2.71 males which will rise to 13 million by 2050. Fifteen percent will be over 60 years of age.
It was disclosed by a renowned Orthopaedic Surgeon in Pakistan Dr Khurram Saadat of WAPDA Teaching Hospital and Orthopaedic Consultant Hameed Latif Hospital during his lecture in a seminar on the topic "Osteoporosis and its management" at TECH Society Club on Sunday. Chief Executive of Punjab Institute of Cardiology Professor Dr Bilal Zakaria Khan presided over and Engr. Abdul Majeed Khan, President TECH Society,
Jameel Gishkori and Engr. Mahmudur Rahman Chughtai participated. Speakers said that Osteoporosis occurs 3 times more often in women than in men because of a woman's greater life expectancy and the hormonal changes that occur at the menopause. Loss of estrogens during and after the menopause accelerates the reduction in the density and quality of bone, doctors disclosed. Vertebral fractures are the primary symptoms to appear while wrist and hip fractures secondary, they added. Daily requirement of calcium utilisation intake in a normal person is 800 to 1,000 mg and vitamin D3 for strong bones can be obtained through sunlight, fish, mushrooms, cod liver oil, eggs and dalda oil, Ortho experts suggested. Doctors also advised that regular walk and swimming can be useful to avoid and prevent Osteoporosis.