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Study finds men suffer loss of bone mass as they age
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. - Men lose
roughly 2 percent of their existing
bone mass per year in the same type
of loss that can severely affect
women after menopause, a study in-
dicates.
"There is a problem with osteo-
porosis in men that hasn't been ap-
preciated. It's a problem that needs
to be recognized and addressed,"
said Dr. Eric Orwoll, who led the
study by the Oregon Health Sci-
ences University.
Men apparently suffer gradual
bone loss throughout their lives,
compared with women, who often
suffer a marked increase in bone
loss after they reach menopause,
Dr. Orwoll said.
Researchers believe women's
bone loss is related to the decrease
in estrogen levels associated with
menopause, but no one has studied
whether hormonal levels also affect
bone loss in men, he said.
"The major point of our study
was that, contrary to popular belief,
there is significant bone loss in
men as they grow older," Dr. Orwoll
said.
The study was published in the
Jan. 1 issue of the Annals of Internal
Medicine.
The three-year study, which Dr.
Orwoll said was the first of its kind
nationally, measured the loss of
bone from the lumbar vertebrae, or
the lower spine, and the forearm.
The 77 men studied ranged in age
from 30 to 80.
The bone loss was detected at all
ages, and the 2 percent rate did not
appear to vary, Dr. Orwoll said.
"If you think of that relatively
simplistically, you wouldn't have
any bone left after 50 years," he
said. "The key is existing bone
mass. That means a man may lose
half of his vertebral bone mass in a
lifetime.
"That's pretty dramatic, and as
yet pretty speculative, so I don't
want to leave the wrong impres-
sion."
Dr. Orwoll said that the skeleton
is constantly being broken down
and rebuilt, which doctors call "re-
modeling."
"The problem in bone loss is that
not enough new bone is put back
when old bone is taken up," Dr.
Orwoll said.
He said that calcium and vitamin
D supplements given to some of the
men in his study did not slow the
bone loss. However, Dr. Orwoll
pointed out that all the men in the
study were healthy and well-nour-
ished, which could mean that cal-
cium supplements may help men
with poor diets.
Women generally suffer twice as
many hip fractures as men, he said,
but men are increasingly prone to
fractures as they reach the 70s and
80s.
Bush's
budget
to be late
Fiscal chief blames
Congress for delay
From Wire Reports
WASHINGTON - The Bush ad-
ministration has told the Demo-
cratic leadership in Congress that it
cannot meet the statutory deadline
for its 1991 budget and will submit
it Jan. 29, a week late.
Richard Darman, director of the
Office of Management and Budget,
said Congress was partly responsi-
ble for the delay, noting that it was
not until late November that Con-
gress passed the bill reconciling
revenue and spending for fiscal
1990 with targets set earlier in the
year.
There was no immediate re-
sponse from Democratic leaders in
Congress. But it appeared that no
confrontation over the issue is
likely.
The budget director listed a
number of reasons for his inability
to deliver the budget on Jan. 22, the
date set by Congress when it ad-
journed just before Thanksgiving.
Mr. Darman said that besides
being late in approving spending
bills and the reconciliation mea-
sure, Congress delayed delivering
the latter to the White House for
President Bush's signature.
That meant the budget office
'n cwMd in making technical es-
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