kozhikode osteoporosis a multifactorial disorder characterized by reduced bone mass and an increased risk of fragility fractures needs population based studies with specific reference to genetic social and environmental factors and remedial action in the form of national programme for bone health and supplementation said dr sanjeev patel president elect british society for rheumatology and consultant rheumatologist kings college hospital university of londonhe was inaugurating the conference on scientific update on bone health jointly organized by calicut rheumatology forum and centre for rheumatology kozhikode at taj gateway kozhikodeosteoporosis related fractures disability pain and sufferings and other conditions resulting from reduced bone mineral density bmd is a significant public health issue lack of general awareness about bone health and osteoporosis need to be addressed through a national level road map for monitoring and action involving state health sectors medical and other health care professionals he said dr vinod ravindran dr s bhadran dr p v bhargavan dr remesh bhasi dr balakrishanan valliyot dr geetha rajan dr suma balan dr sajan mohan raj dr raju a gopal and dr james mitchell led the sessions expressing concern over the extend of poor public awareness on bone density dr vinod ravindran centre for rheumatology chevarambalam and organising secretary said that early detection is the key for prevention of osteopenia low bone density and osteoporosis lowestbone mineral density is generally measured using tscores it is a comparison of the patients bmd with that of a healthy 30 year old as per who standards a t score of 10 and above is normal t score between 10 and 25 means osteopenia and a score below 25 is a diagnosis of osteoporosis he saidincreasing life expectancy and substantial increase in aging population has naturally resulted in escalation of osteoporotic cases india has 23 crore population above 50 years the 60 plus population is expected to double from the current 8 percent in next 20 yearswomen need special attention as they are the most affected studies indicate that 10 to 60 percent of women in different age group has osteoporosis dr vinod ravindran saidwhat is my t score postmenopausal woman and men above 50 with risk factors should be necessarily asking it is as important as knowing the blood pressure and sugar levels he said genetic factors along with many living environment factors including diet lifestyle and physical activity are found to influence bone mineral density contributing to osteoporosisgovernment is addressing calcium requirements in pregnant and lactating mothers via supplementation programmes however low intake of calcium and vitamin d deficiency is prevalent in all age groups from infants to postmenopausal woman a comprehensive national bone health awareness programme is imperative to address the issue dr vinod ravindran addeddr sanjeev patel also spoke on the myths regarding the role of vitamin d and calcium supplementation too much of calcium is also not good for health always seek evaluation of experts he said the conference held important discussions on current concepts on osteoporosis role of vitamin d and calcium changing