[Management for osteoporosis in a society composed largely of elderly people--from a practical orthopaedic point of view]

Abstract

Aging of Japanese population in recent years is advancing at unexpected speed. The incidence of osteoporosis and fracture increase rapidly with aging of the population. Since 1970, at opening of our department, I have expected that a society would be composed largely of elderly people. To prevent elderly people from being beg-ridden and demented, I have made efforts to prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Purpose of this paper is to show concerning the screening of osteoporosis in this area of Hakodate city and southern part of Hokkaido, and to report our treatment for osteoporosis. There are many ways of measuring bone mineral density (BMD), and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is the simplest and the most accurate. Concerning of diagnosis of osteoporosis, we investigated the change of the BMD after hip surgery. On the other hand, we also reported the effectiveness of Vitamin-K for osteoporosis. No studies have ever been tried to clarify about this treatment. We are making efforts to enlighten the people on prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis.