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DR SARAH JARVIS: The NHS MUST screen for osteoporosis - it's left me with the bones of a 90 year-old and I only found out by chance

Dr Sarah Jarvis only sought a scan of her bones following a friend's diagnosis - and was shocked to find that her bones resembled that of someone elderly. Now, she's calling for screening.

Source: Cubes | 

04.12.2024, 16:26

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Cubes

Last month, Britain’s first female Chancellor gave the NHS its greatest funding boost in recent memory.

The injection of £22.6billion into the Health Service announced in the Autumn Budget is a welcome one. A record number of people are waiting for crucial procedures and many of our hospitals are in desperate need of renovations and new equipment.

I’m sure much of the money will be put to good use. However, I was saddened to see that Rachel Reeves had failed to find funding for a crucial women’s health issue.

The bone-thinning disease osteoporosis affects more than 3.5million people in the UK, though it is far more common in women.

It causes the bones to grow so weak that even coughs, sneezes, or hugs from a grandchild can shatter them.

Often known as the ‘silent disease’, patients may not realise that their bones are fragile until they suffer a life-changing fracture. These fractures are the fourth biggest cause of disability and premature death in the UK.

Yet, for many years, osteoporosis has been overlooked by the NHS. At-risk patients – for example, older women who have suffered a recent bone break – should be screened for the disease using a bone-density scan known as a DEXA scan.

Caught early, there are medicines which patients can take to keep their bones strong, reducing the risk of agonising – sometimes life-threatening – fractures.

Dr Sarah Jarvis was diagnosed with the bone-thinning disease 18 months a go, after a friend's diagnosis prompted her to go for a scan.

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