Treatment To Prevent Fractures in Men and Women With Low Bone Density or Osteoporosis: Update of a 2007 Report Executive Summary

Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease characterized by decreasing bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue, with consequent increases in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture.1 In addition to fractures, the clinical complications of osteoporosis include disability and chronic pain. Approximately 52 million people in the United States are affected by osteoporosis or low bone density. It is especially common in postmenopausal women,2 but one in five men will experience an osteoporosisrelated fracture at some point in his lifetime.3