The Postmenopausal osteoporosis reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Postmenopausal osteoporosis

Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a form of osteoporosis that commonly occurs during the decades after menopause. It is a pathological condition of the human skeleton that is characterized by the following features :

• low bone mass
• bone fragility caused by worsening of microscopic structural properties of the bone
• consequent susceptibility to fractures

Osteoporosis is assessed, according to WHO criteria, as bone mineral density (BMD). The T-score is a representation of patient's BMD expressed as number of standard deviations below or above mean BMD of the young adult.

T-score values below 2.5 SD are defined as characteristic of osteoporosis. Values between -1 SD and -2.5 SD are defined as osteopenia.

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