Osteoporosis in men

Although osteoporosis is less common in men than in women, it is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, which might be even greater than that in women. The incidence of osteoporosis in men might well be underestimated since men, providing that they do not have history of hypogonadism or long term corticosteroid use, are far less likely than women to have bone density scan.

Prevalence of fractures (both at the spine and hip) is approximately one third of that found in women. There appears to be a lag period of some five to 10 years so that an exponential increase in fracture incidence begins in men 10 years later than in women This coincides with the accelerated bone loss which occurs in men after the age of 70 and is greater than that observed in women of the same age.

Although the prevalence of fracture is less in men compared to women it seems that for each standard deviation decrease in bone mineral density (BMD) fracture risk is higher for men than for women. And also mortality associated with hip fracture is two- to three fold higher in men than in women.

The underlying mechanisms risk factors and natural history of osteoporosis in men are understudied and far from being fully understood.