Osteoporosis is a silent bone disease, often discovered after an initial fracture. However, a simple test, but little used, can detect it.
- Osteoporosis affects 39% of women aged 65. The rate rises to 70% among people aged 80.
- An easy and painless examination which costs around €40 can detect loss of bone density. But it is little used.
- Experts from 60 million consumers are calling on women to ask their doctor if he or she does not offer it.
Caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, many women tend to put their health second… their spouse, their children or even work. One figure is very representative of this phenomenon. French women call for help 37 minutes later for themselves than for their partner, if they have the same cardiovascular symptoms.
The magazine 60 million consumers who has dedicated a special issue on women’s healthcalls on women to take back control. “You have to ask questions, ask your doctor for things, even if sometimes you can be a little embarrassed to speak frankly to him or ask. Do not hesitate”urges Sophie Coisnedeputy editor-in-chief of the magazine. One of the good tests to discuss with your doctor after the age of 60 is bone densitometry. It makes it possible to detect osteoporosis, a pathology which affects nearly 40% of women aged 65 and 70% over the age of 80. “This is an examination that the doctor does not necessarily think about.”
Osteoporosis: an examination makes it possible to detect the disease
Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease that appears most often with age and is characterized by a decrease in bone density and a breakdown in the structure of its tissue. Result : bones are more fragile and break more easily. The pathology is the cause of 484,000 fractures per year. And due to the aging of the population,Inserm estimates that this figure could reach 610,000 in 2034.
One of the problems of osteoporosis East that the pathology is silent. However, there is a test to determine bone mineral density (DMO) of a person, and therefore detect the disease. Called bone densitometry, it is easy to perform, painless for the patient and costs around 40 euros… but rarely used. For what ? The reimbursement conditions are quite restrictive. It is only reimbursed for women who have one or more of the following risk factors:
- of the history of femoral neck fracture without trauma in one of the parents;
- A body mass index (BMI) less than 19;
- a early menopause (before age 40);
- A history of corticosteroid therapy for more than three consecutive months.
Smoking, which is one of the risk factors for osteoporosis, is therefore not taken into account. Questioned by 60 million consumers, the Pr Florence Tremollièresendocrinologist and director of the Menopause and osteoporosis prevention unit at Toulouse University Hospital, deplores “these indications lead doctors to believe that women without risk factors do not suffer from osteoporosis. Which is false, since half of the women affected at the start of menopause had no risk factors.. For her, not reimbursing bone densitometry for all women reaching menopause is “really a public health error”.
Osteodensitometry: do not hesitate to ask test
Indeed, detecting low bone mineral density at the start of menopause can help prevent osteoporosis. “Hormonal treatment for menopause (THM) is then the first measure to consider, especially if the woman is also bothered by hot flashes.”explained the Pr Tremollières. This prescription has been shown to limit bone loss at the onset of menopause. This is why it would be essential to know your risks of osteoporosis early. Experts therefore advise women to ask their doctor for screening at this time of their life, even if they do not suggest it themselves.
Once the disease has established itself, several treatments help limit its progression such as bisphosphonates, raloxifene and the denosumab. But, their side effects being a source of fear, their prescriptions have tended to fall in recent years. “With bisphosphonates, necrosis of the jaw bone may occur”recognizes the Pr Julian Paccourheumatologist at Lille University Hospital, in the pages of 60 million consumers. “But it is rare: a patient on 10,000after years of treatment. Whereas, if you have already had a fracture due to osteoporosis, the risk of recurrence within two years threatens one in five people.”
He also denounces the impossibility of prescribing romosozumab – drug which helps both increase bone formation and slow its degradation – in France while it is available in many European countries, because the health authorities have not yet reached an agreement on its price with the manufacturer.
