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Osteoporosis Information Now Online at
NIHSeniorHealth
Jan. 27, 2006 Osteoporosis, a disease that thins
and weakens bones to the point that they become fragile and break
easily, afflicts millions of senior citizens. To help seniors learn more
about this serious bone disease, information about the prevention and
treatment of osteoporosis has just been added to the Website named
NIHSeniorHealth. The information is created by the National Institute of
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
Osteoporosis is especially common in older women.
One out of every two women and one in four men over age 50 will have an
osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime, most often breaking
bones in the hip, spine, and wrist.
The NIHSeniorHealth Web site (www.nihseniorhealth.gov), which was designed
especially for seniors, is a joint effort of the National Institute on
Aging (NIA) and the National Library of Medicine (NLM), which are part
of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the Department of Health
and Human Services.
Osteoporosis, the major underlying cause of
fractures in older people, is often called a silent disease because it
progresses without symptoms, says Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D.,
director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and
Skin Diseases (NIAMS), which developed the content for the osteoporosis
topic on NIHSeniorHealth. The launch of the osteoporosis topic on
NIHSeniorHealth will give this condition a greater voice, benefiting
thousands of older women and men.
One of the fastest growing age groups using the
Internet, older Americans increasingly turn to the World Wide Web for
health information. In fact, 66 percent of wired seniors surf for
health and medical information when they go online. NIHSeniorHealth is
based on the latest research on cognition and aging. It features short,
easy-to-read segments of information that can be accessed in a variety
of formats, including various large-print type sizes, open-captioned
videos, and an audio version. Additional topics coming soon to the site
include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure, and
clinical trials. The site links to MedlinePlus, NLMs premier, more
detailed site for consumer health information.
The NIA leads the Federal effort supporting and
conducting research on aging and the health and well-being of older
people. The NLM, the world's largest library of the health sciences,
creates and sponsors Web-based health information resources for the
public and professionals. The NIAMS supports research into the causes,
treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin
diseases. All three are components of the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland,
part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) The
Nation's Medical Research Agency includes 27 Institutes and Centers
and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting basic,
clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the
causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For
more information about NIH and its programs, visit
http://www.nih.gov.
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