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1995 SESSION

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HJ 454 Study; osteoporosis, reduction among citizens of state.

Introduced by: Gladys B. Keating | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Study; Osteoporosis. Requests the Department of Health, in cooperation with the Medical Society of Virginia, to aggressively seek to reduce the incidence of osteoporosis among the citizens of the Commonwealth. Noting that 25 million Americans are stricken with osteoporosis, a preventable disorder occurring more frequently among women and most often among older people, that osteoporosis results in 1.5 million fractures of the hip, spine, wrist, and other bones and a cost of at least $18 billion in health care and associated expenses, and that osteoporosis is frequently a silent, undiagnosed disease, affecting apparently healthy individuals, which becomes apparent when the individual suffers an unexpected broken bone often as a result of a trivial event, such as a hug or a hard sneeze, this resolution points out the consequential reduction in the quality and length of the individual's life and the current lack of cure. Prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment can, however, reduce the prevalence of this devastating and debilitating disease. Many people, even medical experts, are not aware of the crucial need to educate people, particularly women, of the preventive steps, such as adequate nutritional intake of calcium, continuing to exercise throughout life, and, in the case of older women, estrogen replacement therapy under appropriate circumstances. Therefore, this provision asks the Department of Health, in cooperation with the Medical Society of Virginia, to initiate, within available resources, an osteoporosis prevention and education program which will promote public knowledge of the causes, prevention, and value of early detection of osteoporosis.


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