Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about osteoporosis.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash osteoporosis

or in the rheumatology section of the second edition of the zero to finals medicine book,

which is now available to buy on Amazon. So head over and get your copy of the new edition of the book.

So let's get straight into it. Osteoporosis involves a significant reduction in bone density.

Osteopenia refers to a less severe decrease in bone density.

Reduced bone density makes the bones weaker and prone to fractures.

The World Health Organization provides definitions based on the T score at the femoral neck,

measured on a dexas scan.

The T score is the number of standard deviations the patient is from an average healthy young adult.

A T score of minus 1 means the bone mineral density is one standard deviation below the average

for a healthy young adult. A normal T score at the hip is more than minus 1. Osteopenia is defined as a T

score at the hip of minus 1 to minus 2.5.

Osteoporosis is less than minus 2.5.

And severe osteoporosis is less than minus 2.5 plus a fracture.

Let's talk about bone mineral density.

Bone mineral density is measured using a dexas scan,

which stands for dual energy x-ray absorptiometry.

Dexas scans are a type of x-ray that measures

how much radiation is absorbed by the bone,

indicating the bone density. The bone mineral density can be measured anywhere on the skeleton,

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