Life

Cases of bone disease up as the nation grows older

By Zhou Wenting (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-29 07:53

With the country's rapidly growing population of the elderly, osteoporosis is looming as a major health concern. About 70 million people now suffer from osteoporosis, and by 2020, more than 200 million people on the Chinese mainland will be affected by osteoporosis and osteopenia, according to a China Health Promotion Foundation (CHPF) study.

"The increase may continue as China confronts a rapidly aging society," says Xu Ling, director of Osteoporosis and Bone Mineral Disease Committee of the Chinese Medical Association, who led the research by CHPF.

Xu and her team found that the incidence of hip fractures between 2004 and 2006 was three times that between 1990 and 1992.

Osteoporosis, along with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, is one of the leading threats to the health of the middle-aged and elderly, says the World Health Organization.

Osteoporosis renders parts of the bone weak and prone to fracture. Women usually have higher risk of osteoporosis than men because they have 30 percent less bone mass.

This condition is particularly common among women in menopause whose level of the hormone estrogen, a key factor in maintaining bone strength, falls. However, by the age of 65 to 70, men and women lose bone at about the same rate.

Li Huizhen, a 78-year-old retired typist in Shanghai, has suffered from osteoporosis for about 10 years. With the aggravation of the disease, she is mostly confined to bed, owing to chronic pain.

"I can only walk a few steps in my bedroom every day," Li says.

In spite of her serious condition, Li often neglects to take medication, which she says, "doesn't seem to work".

"Osteoporosis is a chronic disease and patients should take long-term medication to recover," Xu says.

But 87 percent of patients in Xu's study gave up taking medicines within three months.

Many reasons account for this, including the slow-acting drugs, poor gastrointestinal function of the elderly, and the inconvenience of taking pills on a daily basis, Xu explains.

Zoledronate by Novartis, given as a once-a-year injection, offers a more convenient treatment for patients like Li.

Zoledronate is efficient in improving bone density within three to six months, and greatly reducing the rate of vertebral fracture within one year, according to Zhang Shidong, marketing director of the Novartis Beijing Branch.

In addition to modern drugs, osteoporosis patients can also turn to age-old traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Zhenjiu, or acupuncture and moxibustion, has been widely used as a treatment for osteoporosis by TCM doctors, according to Gao Tiezheng, chairperson of Beijing Heng'an Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine's department of orthopedics.

TCM theory states that "kidneys nourish bone", and the bone disease is usually caused by deficient qi, or energy, in the kidneys, Gao explains.

Acupuncture is a traditional treatment that involves inserting fine needles into acupoints, while moxibustion involves the burning of mugwort, a small, spongy herb, some inches above the skin of the acupoints.

"Both help stimulate the flow of energy in kidneys. The treatments are especially effective among women patients who reach menopause," Gao says.

Compared with Western medicine, TCM does not harm the digestive system and has less side effects, so it is appropriate for the elderly, Gao says.