KARACHI, Oct 17: At least 12 per cent of the 70 million women of the country are at risk of developing osteoporosis.

This was stated by the president of the Osteoporosis Society of Pakistan at a press briefing on Thursday.

He explained that osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become porous, weaker, brittle and prone to fracture. “Of all the complications experienced by females after their menopause none is more devastating than this disease. It is estimated that about one-third women aged between 60 and 70 years, and two-thirds of all women aged 50 years or older, are afflicted by this disorder,” he added.

Dr Kamran Hameed of the Aga Khan University Hospital said that previously it had been thought that weakening of bones was a natural process linked to aging. He added that it had come to light that osteoporosis was a disease which could not only be treated but could also be prevented.

“The formation of bones takes place in a person from childhood to 25/26 years. After this age limit, the process not only stops but weakness in the bones begins. The amount of calcium that bones have collected in these years constitutes what is called the bone mass,” he elaborated.

He stressed the need for increasing calcium intake, either from medicines or from fruit and vegetables.

He added that it was a common misunderstanding that osteo- arthritis was more dangerous than osteoporosis. “Osteo-arthritis is wear and tear of bone joints which is different from osteoporosis which is related to the structure of bones.”

Dr Nusrat H. Khan, who is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, said the reason why the female population all over the world became particularly at risk of developing osteoporosis was that they underwent pregnancy and lactation.

“In Pakistan where a lot of women have early marriages the process of bone formation stops before it could take off in the exact sense of the word.”

She added that at least 200 million women worldwide suffered from osteoporosis with an estimated one-third of women aged 60 to 70 and two-thirds of women aged 80 or older were afflicted by the disease which according to the World Health Organization was second only to cardiovascular diseases and was a leading health care problem.

Surgeon Dr Rehman Baig said that it was a fallacy that only women suffered from osteoporosis. Men too, he added, developed this condition because of a deficiency of calcium.

“Osteoporosis is indeed a natural process but the accelerating factors include lack of exercise, poor food and multipregnancy which could be controlled,” he explained.

Dr Baig added that the number of hip fractures worldwide due to osteoporosis was expected to rise from 1.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million by 2050 and 50 per cent of these fractures were expected in Asia alone.

The president of the Osteoporosis Society of Pakistan said that due to the global nature of this problem, the World Health Organization had declared Oct 20 as the World Osteoporosis Day.