US doctors call for osteoporosis screening in older men
The American College of Physicians (ACP) has said that doctors should consider screening older men for osteoporosis.
In an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the ACP explained that many medical professionals still viewed women as being at greatest risk from osteoporosis. As a result, few men are scanned for the bone-thinning disease.
However, the report argued that aging populations in the Western world mean that osteoporosis rates among men could increase significantly in the coming years.
The ACP said that physicians should begin to screen for osteoporosis in older men.
The report explained: "Osteoporosis in men is an important public health problem. Osteoporosis in men is substantially underdiagnosed, undertreated, and underreported and inadequately researched."
It added that it was recommending "that clinicians obtain dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry for men who are at increased risk for osteoporosis and are candidates for drug therapy".
Finally, the report noted that these risk factors included older age, low body weight, weight loss, physical inactivity, previous fractures not caused by substantial trauma, ongoing use of certain drugs and low-calcium diets.
A spokeswoman for the Arthritis Research Campaign commented that huge advances have been made in developing new preventive treatments for osteoporosis in recent years but that targeted screening and early diagnosis are vital if the right people are to get proper access to them.
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