Causes and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis

Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a condition that many women will experience. Do you know what the cause is? I hope you can know a lot. We would like to introduce the causes and treatments of postmenopausal osteoporosis to you. We don’t introduce much here, but I believe you must know a lot about this disease. Let’s take a closer look with the editor below!

1. Causes

Estrogen deficiency is one of the main causes of PMO. Estrogen can promote early osteoblast differentiation, stimulate collagen and inhibit osteoclast activity. Severe estrogen deficiency after menopause increases osteoclast activity, reduces bone density, increases bone turnover rate, affects calcium salt deposition, increases bone ablation, and causes massive bone loss, ultimately leading to PMO.

PMO can be divided into two categories: ① Early postmenopausal osteoporosis, which is characterized by rapid bone loss and is related to the decline in estrogen after menopause; ② Late postmenopausal osteoporosis, which occurs 10 to 20 years after menopause and is characterized by slow bone loss. Secondary hyperparathyroidism in the elderly further worsens PMO.

2. Clinical manifestations

Osteoporosis is a hidden disease that often has no symptoms before a fracture occurs. Once hunchback, shorter stature, or bone pain are noticed, a fracture has often already occurred. The main manifestations are as follows:

1. Bone pain

The bone pain of osteoporosis is usually caused by microfractures of the trabecular bones, which is caused by the tension of muscles and ligaments when the body position changes. Therefore, pain may occur when sitting up, bending forward and extending backward, walking, turning over, and lying down.

2. Hunchback or shorter stature

It occurs when there is a compression fracture of the spine.

3. Local tenderness or percussion pain

It is characterized by the absence of local redness, swelling and fever.

Treatment

1. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

A large number of studies have confirmed that the use of estrogen alone or in combination with progesterone can prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women. There is a clear relationship between the dose of estrogen and the therapeutic effect. Emphasis is placed on using the lowest effective dose to avoid side effects. HRT needs to be used continuously. If it needs to be stopped, other treatments should be added to maintain the beneficial effects on bone mass.

2. Calcium Supplementation

The recommended daily calcium intake for menopausal women is 1000-1500 mg of elemental calcium. Long-term calcium supplementation in elderly women may partially reverse the age-related increase in serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) and bone resorption and reduce bone loss. Although calcium supplementation is relatively safe, you should still pay attention to monitoring calcium concentrations in your blood and urine. If the blood calcium is within the normal range and the 24-hour urine calcium is between 100 and 200 mg, it means the dosage is appropriate; if the urine calcium is between 300 and 400 mg, it means the calcium or vitamin D dosage is too large and the dosage should be reduced; if the urine calcium is >400 mg, the medication should be stopped to avoid kidney or bladder stones.

How much do you know about the causes and treatments of postmenopausal osteoporosis? I know you must know more than me. You also hope that your body is disease-free and pain-free and healthy, but our diseases will still come to us, so our mentality is the most important. So the editor here hopes that patients and friends can recover their health as soon as possible!