More than one in four Irish women over 50 will be affected by osteoporosis, putting them at risk of bone fractures and disability, a conference on women's health has been told.
Other health risks for post-menopausal women include cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer, Dr Maire Milner, director of the menopause clinic in the Rotunda Hospital said.
Dr Milner was opening the "Irish WomenLiving Longer" conference, sponsored by the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company, in UCD yesterday.
One of the reasons for increased risks in these areas was the loss of oestrogen following the menopause, according to the matron of the National Maternity Hospital, Ms Maeve Dwyer. "It is vital that Irish women understand post-menopause health risks, as this is the first step in learning how to protect their overall health."
Taking hormone replacement therapy could help avoid some conditions, such as osteoporosis and heart disease, but it could actually exacerbate others, like breast cancer, the conference was told. There was no evidence yet to suggest that it helped combat Alzheimer's disease.
Dr Michael Molloy, of University College Cork, said osteoporosis was very rare in underdeveloped countries. Heredity and body-frame appeared to be factors in the development of the disease, but nothing could be done about them. However, something could be done about other factors, such as diet and lifestyle, and drug therapy could also be used.
Countries where children took a lot of exercise had very low rates of osteoporosis, so exercise, especially weight-bearing exercise, was important at all stages of life. Calcium was very important in the diet, while taking steroids increased the danger of developing the disease.
Where osteoporosis was not prevented or treated, it could progress silently until a bone broke, he said. These fractures typically occurred in the hip, spine or wrist. Standard X-rays could not detect the condition until about 30 per cent of bone mass was lost, which was too late. However, specialised tests now existed which could identify the disease at an early stage. Prof John Horgan of Beaumont Hospital said female mortality from heart disease was significantly higher than male, and the outcome for a range of therapies, including surgery and angiograms, was less satisfactory.
The reasons for this were not fully known. It might be because women had smaller blood vessels than men. It was also the case that women were less likely to enter rehabilitation programmes, citing their obligations to their families. Diagnostic tests for heart problems were also less reliable for women.
Hormone levels were a factor in the development of cardiovascular problems in women, as the loss of oestrogen caused a reduction in HDL ("good cholesterol") and an increase in the levels of LDL ("bad cholesterol").
Dr Fenton Howell, of the North Eastern Health Board, said that tobacco killed more Irish women every year than any other agent, yet women's magazines and the women's movement were doing little to alert women to the dangers of smoking.