While osteoporosis has long been considered ...

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Release Date: September 5, 2000

Contact: Gwen Fariss Newman, 410-328-8919

Ellen Beth Levitt, 410-328-8919

Men and osteoporosis. For many years the phrase was considered controversial. Now, however, osteoporosis is known to suffer from a significant number of men and women. New research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine will address the causes of disease in men, the differences between Caucasian and African-American men, and how the disease can be prevented among the male population. "Men tend to ignore the group discussed in osteoporosis," says, MPH-Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and head of rheumatology and clinical immunology at the University of Maryland Medical Center. While osteoporosis has long been considered "women's disease," men were 30 percent 1. 7000000 hip fractures in the United States in 1994. And the latest figures of the Third National Health and Nutrition NIH research shows that one to two million people in the United States have osteoporosis and another eight to 13 million have low bone mass. Assumed that the occurrence of osteoporosis will worsen as men live longer. "We hope to find ways to predict the rate of loss of bone lasix drug generic density in men and how to prevent disease occurrence. We are also looking for preventive measures, non-drug therapy, "says Dr. Gohberg. This single-center study, funded by grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Arthritis Foundation, is the first national look at bone density differences between Caucasian and African-American men. "White as a rule, cases of fractures approximately twice that of African-Americans, and we do not know why," says Dr. Gohberg. "We believe that because of differences in bone density and the rate at which bone is replenished."

Research will include 1,000 Caucasian and African-American men aged 65 and older living in metropolitan Baltimore area. Participants visited the clinic four times in three years, where bone density and body composition will be measured. The influence of other environmental factors such as diet and exercise, and will be evaluated, as well as reports of falls or other incidents that result in fractures. The research will improve understanding of what people are prone to higher risk of osteoporosis and why. "The prevalence of osteoporosis is higher in whites than in American or African-American men. That's all we know about bone density in American men, "says Dr. Gohberg. "That and the fact that while osteoporosis is less common in men than women, it is more deadly among the male population." Mortality within one year of hip fracture is twice more men than women, he says. For patients questions, call 1-800-492-5538

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