This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA

Erin E. Hartman, MS; Jennifer Daley, MD
From the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave, LY318, Boston, MA 02215.

JAMA. 2000;283:531.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

In November 1998, Susan L. Greenspan, MD, discussed a 73-year-old woman with osteoporosis.¹ The patient, Mrs Z, had lost about 7.5 cm in height and had 3 clinical fractures prior to her diagnosis of osteoporosis. Dr Greenspan discussed risk factors, medications, and diseases associated with this condition. She focused on guidelines for prevention and treatment as well as recommendations for bone mass measurements. For Mrs Z and other elderly women, Dr Greenspan emphasized the importance of adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D, along with weight-bearing exercise and prevention of falls. She also detailed approved treatment options such as hormone replacement therapy, alendronate, calcitonin, and raloxifene. She stressed that osteoporosis is "not an inevitable process of aging" and that much can be done to both prevent and treat this common condition. We asked the patient and her physician to comment on the year . . . [Full Text of this Article]

MRS Z, THE PATIENT