Osteoporosis can impact a person’s quality of life, ranging in severity from lifestyle disruption to hospital visits—and even death. Proper preventive care and treatment can help mitigate osteoporosis complications.
Lifestyle Disruption
Physical Activity
Osteoporosis can be disabling and limit your ability to be physically active. A lack or reduction in physical activity can cause weight gain and increase the risk of other health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.
Pain
Fractures caused by osteoporosis can be severely painful and debilitating. Fractures of the spine can result in a loss of height and stooping.
Hospital Admission
Although some osteoporosis sufferers sustain a fracture and don’t feel or notice it, other fractures are painful and serious enough to warrant hospital admission. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, about 293,000 Americans age 45 and older were admitted to hospitals with a fracture of the femoral neck, a common type of hip fracture, in 2005.
Death
Hip fractures and vertebral (spinal) fractures in seniors and the elderly are linked to an increased risk of death. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, 20 percent of seniors who break a hip die within one year from problems related to the broken bone itself or surgery to repair it.
