India - CMC to Host Two-day National Meet on Osteoporosis

VELLORE: The Department of Endocrinology, Christian Medical College, will be hosting, for the first time, the 11th National Conference of the Indian Society of Bone and Mineral Research on November 27 and 28 to create awareness on the treatment of bone-related diseases.

Around 15 percent of the Indian population, especially women, is prone to bone fracture before the age of 65 years due to osteoporosis. About 45 national and international experts in the field of metabolic bone disorders and 300 delegates will be participating in the event and is open to general physicians, endocrinologists, nutritionists, rheumatologists, orthopaedicians and paediatricians. In another first, the meet has been thrown open to non-endocrine and general physicians.

Osteoporosis and its treatment, vitamin D deficiency, sclerotic bone disorder, parathyroid disease, post-transplant bone disease, diabetes-associated bone disease and thyroid bone disease will be topics covered.

According to the organising team comprising Dr Thomas Paul and Dr Nihal Thomas, the medical aspects of bone disease are a neglected area.  Osteoporosis is a condition which is common and affects nearly 40 percent of women above the age of 60 years. It is, in many cases, preventable through early diagnosis and treatment.

“It is a major misconception that when bones ache or if there are fractures, that the solution to the problem is surgery,” Paul and Thomas said. Bone mineral deficiency can be treated easily. Mineral-rich foods such as milk, fish and ragi can also help supplement the treatment.

 There are more than 15 causes for thick, brittle bones which require specific expertise and algorithms for diagnosis and treatment. Some of the causes are present from birth and some are acquired – such as fluorosis, which is due to an increase in the fluoride content of water that is likely to worsen with the declining water table............................