Women living in the Gulf can cut in half their risk of painful bone fractures by talking with their doctors about ways to increase their bone strength, including the use of novel drug therapies designed to slow the decay of old bone while speeding the growth of new bone.
Currently, one in four women living in the Gulf suffers from osteoporosis, a debilitating, chronic condition in which feeble bone structure in typically older, post-menopausal women leads to serious back and hip fractures.
Women are three times more likely to suffer from osteoporosis than are men; however, after the age of 80, men and women are equally likely to fall victim to osteoporosis.
“Gulf women should talk with their doctors now about osteoporosis, not wait until they have fallen and broken bones. There are several safe and effective preventative measures available to address the issue of low bone mineral density,” said Dr. Hussein Saadi, Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain.
Women most at risk are those who are post-menopausal combined with one or more of the following characteristics: family history of osteoporosis, previous fracture, take cortisone for chronic pain, or cigarette smokers.
Other medical histories which correlate highly with osteoporosis are sickle cell anemia, as well as thyroid gland and colon diseases.
“In Bahrain, where 20% of our people have sickle cell anemia, the incidence of osteoporosis among post-menopausal women is as high as 50%,” said Dr. Jamal Saleh, Consultant Orthopedic, President of the Bahrain Osteoporosis Society.
What’s needed, says Dr. Saleh, is that patients eat well and exercise long into their adult lives.
In addition, doctors say, patients should take preventative measures to curb osteoporosis, including new, novel drug therapies which both delay the decay of bone, while encouraging the growth of new bone.
In a New England Journal of Medicine study, doctors presented findings to support the positive effects of strontium ranelate (Protelos) on the risk of vertebral fractures in women with post-menopausal osteoporosis.
The doctors found that patients who took the Protelos drug over a three year period of time had higher bone mineral density than a comparison group of patients which did not.
They concluded that treatment of post-menopausal osteoporosis with Protelos leads to early and sustained reductions in the risk of vertebral fractures.
The world’s top bone doctor, and a lead participant in the New England Journal of Medicine study, was in Dubai this week to share his findings with doctors from across the Middle East.
“Protelos introduces a new approach to the management of osteoporosis, as it is the first and only antiosteoporotic drug to have a dual mode of action, simultaneously increasing bone formation and decreasing bone resorption. This rebalancing means that patients taking Protelos are far less likely to suffer from fractures, whatever the severity of their disease,” said Professor Pierre D. Delmas, Professor of Medicine, President of the International Osteoporosis Foundation.
Protelos has been approved for use in Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates and is available immediately by prescription only.
