Health and Gender by Ilaria Tarricone & Anita Riecher-Rössler

Author:Ilaria Tarricone & Anita Riecher-Rössler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030150389
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

18.3 Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis

Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis are major causes of chronic disability in older adults and are associated with chronic pain and limited quality of life and disability. Gender differences exist in the presentation of these musculoskeletal diseases, and recognition of the differences between men and women’s burden of disease and response to treatment is key in optimizing care. Between the ages of 60 and 90 years, women are more likely than men to suffer from osteoarthritis, and women experience more severe arthritis in the knee [19, 20]. Although the presentation of osteoarthritis does not differ between men and women, symptom severity does. Additionally, women are three times less likely than men to undergo hip or knee arthroplasty [20]. Osteoporosis is three times more common in women than in men, partly because women have a lower peak bone mass and partly because of the hormonal changes that occur at menopause and the effect of pregnancy which can alter calcium composition in a woman’s body in the absence of appropriate diet and/or administration of calcium supplements [21]. The gender gap in diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis after a fragility fracture is wide. In particular it has been consistently shown that only few male patients with hip fractures undergoes bone mineral density testing and most of them does not receive any osteoporosis treatment [19]. On the other side while both osteoarthritis and osteoporosis and consequent fractures, spontaneous or caused by falls, place an enormous burden on the health-care system and society, often they do not get the attention they deserve because they are incorrectly seen as an inevitable part of aging especially in women or less serious than such conditions as heart disease or cancer.

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