Does menopause cause osteoporosis?

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Menopause and its risk towards Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis which literally means “Porous bone” is a disease related to bones which weakens the bones and increases the risk of unexpected fractures. The disease does not have any visible symptoms and is not exposed until the weakened bones lead to fractures especially in hips or back. The disease is predominant among women and one third of women in the world above the age of fifty are said to have osteoporosis.

Our bones are made of living tissue which grows and remodels itself continuously. There is dense bone which forms the outer shell and protects the internal trabecular bone which is sponge-like and is of soft nature. People, who suffer from osteoporosis, will have the holes in these sponge-like bones enlarged and this weakens the structure of the bones internally.

When people are young (less than 30 years of age) the bone mass is increased and bones are stronger. But after this age, the bones begin to breakdown leading to loss of bone mass gradually. When this bone mass reduces below a threshold level, the person suffers from Osteoporosis.

Postmenopausal Osteoporosis is very common among women over the age of forty and is usually caused as a result of menopause. There is a straight forward relationship between lack of estrogen hormone and osteoporosis in women. In case of some women early menopause can occur (i.e., below the age of 40) and this leads to Osteoporosis. In case of delayed periods during which the level of estrogen hormone is less and menstrual period is absent, there can be some bone mass reduction leading to the disease.

Postmenopausal Osteoporosis is very common and deadly than premenopausal osteoporosis as it occurs to people of age above 40. Women who have experienced menopause recently will have greater osteoclasts which are cells responsible for the destruction of bones than normal women who haven’t experienced menopause. Also, the menopause naturally leads to the decrease in production of estrogen hormone as a woman becomes sterile after menopause. But estrogen is also important for the regulation of remodeling cycle in bones. So, women can experience rapid loss of bones after their menopause. Estrogen helps in regulating the bone remodeling and keeps it under control but since the amount of estrogen secretion becomes low, the bone mass gets reduced. There are 2 types of cells that play dominant role in bone remodeling, osteoclasts which help in bone resorption (bone eating) and osteoblasts which help in bone formation. Due to lack of sufficient estrogen, osteoclasts become more dominant and bone resorption or bone loss occurs at faster rate than bone formation leading to the weakening of bones.

So, it is very clear that menopause has some direct impact on Osteoporosis as it leads to bone loss due to the insufficient secretion of estrogen hormone in women. The excessive bone loss leads to thinning of bones in women over age of 40 who have experienced menopause.

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Causes of Osteoporosis

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Osteoporosis is known as “silent disease” because you will never know you are suffering from that condition, until your bone breaks due to a sprain, fall or bump. Osteoporosis is the condition when your bones become weak and fragile and easily prone to fractures. Most often fractures occur in the hip, wrist and spine.

Some risk Factors

• Women get osteoporosis more than men
• Older people have a greater risk of osteoporosis than younger people
• Asian women have higher risk of osteoporosis than Black or Hispanic women

Causes of osteoporosis

Obesity and low weight: The main cause for osteoporosis is obesity. Excess weight can weaken your bones. Similarly low body weight women have less bone mass and this can also lead to osteoporosis.

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