26 Aug 2010
IT IS a misconception held by many health-care professionals and patients alike that osteoporosis is a natural process of ageing and need not be taken seriously.
And that is a fallacy the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), which officially launched its first regional office in the Asia-Pacific region here yesterday, wants to remove.
Said the foundation’s president, Mr John Kanis: “Worldwide, 80 per cent of women who sustain an osteoporotic fracture do not receive treatment.
“There is an enormous lack of awareness, even among health-care professionals.
In our daily work, and in developing strong regional structures, we aim to generate greater awareness of this disease.”
At the media launch of its regional office held at Raffles City Convention Centre yesterday, Professor Kanis said Singapore was chosen because its health-care services and infrastructure are well-developed.
Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security S. Jayakumar, who was present at the launch, said that ageing societies, including Singapore, have to take note of osteoporosis, which leaves patients prone to fractures, resulting in hospitalisation, morbidity and even mortality.
He added that one in 350 women and one in 750 men over 50 years of age here sustain a hip fracture every year.
Another speaker at the event, the director of the osteoporosis and bone metabolism unit at the Singapore General Hospital, Dr Manju Chandran, gave some other sobering figures.
She said: “Osteoporosis is a silverhaired tsunami in Asia, the epicentre of ageing. More than half the world’s fractures will occur in Asia by 2050.”
She added that many health-care professionals fail to diagnose or prescribe the appropriate treatment for osteoporosis patients because of the mentality that it is simply an old age-related sickness.
“If detected early, we can slow down the progression of bone loss,” she said.
For 82-year-old Charlie Daniel, who suffered spinal fractures after a fall in 2008, three months of treatment enabled him to walk with the help of a walking stick. He said: “I was in so much pain and had to sit in a wheelchair. Now I can walk to the synagogue.”
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