Osteoporosis. Gender features of prevention and treatment
Babenko A.Yu., Laevskaya M.Yu.

National Medical Research Center named after V.A. Almazov, Saint-Petersburg

Osteoporosis and related fractures are the major public health problem worldwide and the often cause of disability and mortality. Due to its high prevalence, the greatest attention is given to osteoporosis in elderly women. Meanwhile, this problem is also relevant for the elderly men. The course of osteoporosis in men has a number of characteristics, which must be taken into account in the diagnosis and choice of therapy. Hypogonadism, cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse, and a number of diseases requiring corticosteroid treatment are the main risk factors for osteoporosis in men. An important factor is vitamin D deficiency, which is observed in more than 70% of elderly men. There are some features of pharmacotherapy choice for men with a diagnosis of osteoporosis or a high 10-year absolute risk of fracture (FRAX). Most evidences for the treatment of osteoporosis in men are based on studies in which women predominantly participate, which makes further research on the therapy of men necessary to optimize their treatment. It should be noted that alfacalcidol therapy has the same efficacy, confirmed in clinical studies both in men and women and has advantages over treatment with native forms of vitamin D.

Key words: osteoporosis, hypovitaminosis D, male sex, testosterone, ergocalciferol, cholecalciferol, calcitriol, alfacalcidol.
For citation: Babenko A.Yu., Laevskaya M.Yu. Osteoporosis. Gender features of prevention and treatment // RMJ. 2017. № 22. P. 1646–1650.