NOF’s Sixth International Osteoporosis Symposium Offers the Latest Information & Research to U.S. Healthcare Professionals

April 5, 2005 (Washington, DC) – The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) is bringing together a faculty of internationally-renowned experts to share state-of-the-art information and research on bone health and osteoporosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment with hundreds of physicians and other healthcare professionals at the Sixth International Symposium on Osteoporosis (ISO), April 6-10, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC “Current Status & Future Directions” is the only biennial scientific meeting in the United States to focus on osteoporosis and bone health across the lifespan. 

“The ISO is a key element in NOF’s efforts to improve the lives of tens of millions Americans affected by osteoporosis and related fractures by expanding healthcare professionals’ understanding of the disease to ensure their patients receive the most appropriate care,” said Bess Dawson-Hughes, MD, President of NOF. “Since no single specialty is focused on this disease, it is important to reach all healthcare professionals – including primary care providers, physical therapists, geriatricians, nurses and orthopedists – with the tools to fight osteoporosis.” 

The ISO helps healthcare professionals answer the Surgeon General’s mandate to address the health threat presented by osteoporosis issued in the Bone Health and Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General, published in October 2004. The first-ever Report on bone health states, “All healthcare professionals … have the opportunity and responsibility to assist individuals in achieving” strong, healthy bones, but “... much of what we know from research about bone health is not always applied in practice.”

The ISO bridges this information gap by focusing on the global threat posed by the under management of the disease in the keynote address, then turning to critical issues for practicing healthcare professionals such as identifying which patients should receive treatment, who should receive bone mineral density (BMD) tests and adjustments professionals can make when a treatment program is not effective. The closing address will look to the future as efforts to create an “absolute fracture risk” standard and the implications the standard holds for improving patient care are discussed. In addition, recent research abstracts by leading scientists from across the country will be presented. 

“More than 44 million American women and men, aged 50 and older, are at risk for osteoporosis-fractures and that number is expected to increase to more than 61 million by the year 2020,” said Judith Cranford, Executive Director of NOF. “These figures underscore the importance of this meeting in helping to advance a better understanding of this serious, often debilitating, disease.”

The meeting program was developed by Planning Committee Co-Chairs Deborah T. Gold, PhD, of Duke University Medical Center and Robert Lindsay, MD, PhD, of Helen Hayes Hospital, and Planning Committee members Ethel Siris, MD, of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and Michael Kleerekoper, MD, from Wayne State University School of Medicine.

For more information on the ISO, please visit NOF on-line at www.nof.org or call (202) 223-2226.

About Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis literally means “porous bones.” It is a disease in which bones become more fragile and likely to break, even from a slight strain or fall. NOF estimates 44 million American women and men age 50 and older are at risk of breaking a bone due to osteoporosis and low bone mass. The Surgeon General's Report states that 1.5 million fractures related to osteoporosis cost the nation $18 billion every year. Osteoporosis is often called the “silent disease” because there are no symptoms until a bone breaks.

About NOF: Established in 1984, the National Osteoporosis Foundation is the nation’s leading voluntary health organization solely dedicated to osteoporosis and bone health. Our mission is to prevent osteoporosis, to promote lifelong bone health, to help improve the lives of those affected by osteoporosis and related fractures, and to find a cure.