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Title: Canadian Study Supports Osteoporosis Screening Every 5 Years
URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/223C9A.htm
Doctor's Guide
June 18, 2008

MONTREAL -- June 18, 2008 -- New recommendations about how to best cope with osteoporosis have been issued to Canadian public health authorities. These recommendations derive from the latest results of the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos), which was published June 16 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

According to David Goltzman, MD, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, the CaMos study, coordinated by McGill University Health Centre, involved 9 other centres across Canada. It has recruited more than 10,000 participants since 1996. The long duration and the national scale of the project have enabled researchers to determine that participants' bone mineral density (BMD) varies very slowly in the absence of other risk factors.

The latest CaMos results confirm that, for women, menopause is a critical period during which BMD decreases in all the bones studied. More specifically, an average decrease of 6.8% over 5 years was observed in the hip. Significant BMD loss also occurs after age 70, mainly in the hip bone. In men, BMD decreases more gradually, although it starts earlier, around the age of 40.

The fact that rapid BMD loss occurs after menopause was already known but had never been previously quantified, while the second period of BMD decline after age 70 is a completely new discovery.

"The scope of the CaMos study means that we can produce data that are representative of the entire Canadian population, in order to help improve official recommendations, and to enhance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of osteoporosis," said Dr. Goltzman.

"In light of our results, we think that, in the absence of other risk factors, BMD should be measured every 5 years, instead of every 2 years, as is currently the case," Dr. Goltzman continued. "Of course, this frequency should be modified if the person does have other risk factors."


SOURCE: McGill University Health Centre

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