Canada's health-care system has got its report card on osteoporosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment - it got a failing grade.
One in four women and one in eight men over age 50 in this country have osteoporosis, a disease that thins the bones and makes them brittle and likely to fracture. Yet only a small number of these Canadians are being referred for bone mineral density (BMD) testing, an essential tool for diagnosis and treatment.
This is the conclusion in Breaking Barriers, Not Bones, the first large-scale, national report card from Osteoporosis Canada assessing access to BMD testing and medications.
Key findings include:
access to BMD testing across the country is... more