Thursday, 20 June 2013
Half of Singapore men at risk of bone disease: Study
SINGAPORE — One in two Singaporean men could be at risk of developing bone-related diseases, such as osteoporosis, says a study conducted by Fonterra, a New Zealand-based dairy company.
The report is based on bone health checks done by Fonterra, which conducted 15 million scans in Asia over three years.
The numbers show that 47 per cent of Singaporean men are in the “at risk” group, in line with the regional average for Asian men.
In Malaysia and the Philippines, nearly 40 per cent of men are at risk, while 52 per cent of men in Indonesia are at risk.
Doctors said the findings are not “completely surprising”.
They said that there has been an upward trend in osteoporosis cases in developed countries over the years, and Singapore is now catching up.
Osteoporosis specialist Dr Alvin Ng , rom The Endocrine Clinic at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said there is a Vitamin D deficiency globally, and this could be because people living in urbanised environments lead relatively sedentary lifestyles.
Vitamin D is produced by the body when exposed to sunlight. Having sufficient levels of Vitamin D and calcium is known to contribute to good bone health.
Osteoporosis is known as a “silent disease”, as most people do not know they have it until they feel the first fracture.
What is worrying is the lack of awareness of this disease among men, as osteoporosis has generally been associated with women.
Dr Ng said: “I think women are generally more prone to sit still, and the prevalence of women having osteoporosis is much higher, but we think that the awareness is very disparate between the two populations. But men do get more severe complications and higher mortality when they sustain a fragility fracture from osteoporosis, so in that way, we think that there’s still an equal kind of impetus for us to reach out to men to make sure that they become more aware of this situation.”
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