Approximately 28 million people in the U.S. have or are at risk for osteoporosis. By the year 2015, that number it is projected to be 41 million 34. 

• Sex
• Age 
• Race/Ethnicity
  

Osteoporosis Risk Factors
Risk Factor	Rationale
Gender	Women are four times more likely to develop osteoporosis than men; secondary to three factors: thinner, lighter bones; changes associated with menopause; and women on the whole live longer than men.
Age	As age increases, the risk for osteoporosis increases because bones become less dense, more brittle, and weaker. Bone loss occurs at about 10% each 10 years after the age of 30. Osteoporosis affects nearly half of the persons over the age of 75; both men and women. With increased age, the body is less efficient at absorbing calcium and other nutrients essential to bone health.
Body Size	Petite, thin women are at greatest risk of developing osteoporosis as they have less bone mass to lose.
Ethnicity	Caucasians and Asians are at increased risk of developing osteoporosis. Blacks have more dense bones than whites. Hip fractures occur about twice as frequently in white women as compared to black women.
Family History	Young women whose mothers have had vertebral fractures have reduced bone mass and thus are at increased risk of developing osteoporosis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note. From “Reducing your risk of osteoporosis”, by B. L. McClung, 2001, Nursing Management, 3-7. 34.

Sex:
Female 

1. Hip fractures occur much earlier in women than in men 43.
2. One in two women will have a osteoporotic fracture in their lifetime 42.
3. Menopause places women at a higher risk due to low estrogen levels 43.
4. A smaller frame or thin body indirectly reduces bone mass 42.

Male

1. Osteoporotic levels are reached at an older age than females 28.
2. One in four men over 50 will have an osteoporotic fracture in their life 43.
3. Incidence of factures increases with age. By age 90, the ratio of hip fractures between males and females in 1 to 2.
4. Men do not undergo bone loss associated with menopause 28.
5. The inability to convert testosterone into estrogen through enzyme deficiency leads to decreased bone mass 28.

Age:

1. Age is one of the most important factors associated with osteoporosis 5,43,18.  

 Race/Ethnicity:

1. Osteoporotic fractures are most common to Caucasians, Hispanics, and Asians 10.
2. African Americans tend to have a higher bone mineral density creating less incidence of fracture.
3. Asian women have lower bone mass than Caucasian women.
4. Hispanic women have half the fracture rate of Caucasian women; however bone mineral density does not vary much 10.        

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