Cyrus Cooper, Stephen Gehlbach and Robert Lindsay (eds): Prevention and treatment of osteoporosis: a clinician’s guide

Excerpt

The aim of this clinician’s guide edited by Cyrus Cooper, Stephen Gehlbach and Robert Lindsay was not to cover exhaustively all aspects of osteoporosis from basic science to treatment, but to provide the reader with a concise description of some innovative aspects of prevention and treatment of a disease that is now a major health issue because of the rapid expansion of the elderly population and that remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. Each of the seven chapters written by the best international experts explains the state of the art in a domain where substantial advances have been achieved in recent years. These chapters cover perspectives of the problem, epidemiology, pathophysiology, risk stratification, treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis—including new therapies such as parathyroid hormone, new bisphosphonates and strontium ranelate, economic aspects of osteoporosis and strategies for prevention. They confirm that fragility fractures are no more the inevitable price to pay for a longer life and will incite clinicians to pay more attention to an active evaluation and prevention of fracture risk. …