Why Is Osteoporosis Different In Men And Women?

A disease or a health condition may have the same symptoms, often same medication or cure too, but it might affect men and women differently. One such condition is osteoporosis. This happens when you have a lower bone mineral density and lower bone mass. The effects of osteoporosis changes the structure of bones and weaken them.

While anyone can get osteoporosis, it is most common in older adults and also occurs more frequently in women.

Osteoporosis differs in many ways, it could be seen especially from the early osteoporosis cases and how quickly it progresses depending on one's gender. For men, it comes on a much later stage and progresses slowly. While more women, it can come at an early stage, also due to reductions in estrogen during menopause, women become more prone to this condition.

As per a 2017 review titled Gender Disparities in Osteoporosis by Khaled A Alswat, it was found that rapid declines in bone density happened at the age of 65 to 69 for women, while for men, the age was 74 to 79. Bone loss in femur was also .96% per year for women, while for men it was .82%.

As per the centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its 2021 report which looked at the prevalence of osteoporosis in adults over 50 between 2017 and 2018 found that 19.6% women had osteoporosis in femur and lower spine, compared to only 4.4% men. The precursor condition is called osteopenia, and it has a higher prevalence in women accounting to 51.5% as compared to men 33.5%.