GPs criticise delay on brittle bone (osteoporosis) drugs

GPs slam delay on brittle bone drugs

Extract:

"Thousands of women with the brittle bone disease osteoporosis have been denied the necessary drugs to ease their condition because the medical debate about the most cost-effective treatment has taken five years to complete.

Sufferers in some areas have been faced with 'treatment blight' - the reluctance of doctors to prescribe drugs because no decision has been made by Nice, the independent body that decides which drugs can be used.

Fewer than 500,000 of the three million people with brittle bone disease have received drugs that reduce their chances of sustaining a fracture, according to evidence assembled by the National Osteoporosis Society. 'The upshot must be that more patients will have suffered broken hips than were necessary because some of the patients that might have had their bone density improved haven't been able to get hold of drugs,' said a spokesman.

Nice is finally due to reveal its findings tomorrow, although it is expected to impose age conditions on treatment. Critics have warned that this is likely to force the NHS to spend even more than the existing £1.73bn a year on treating the affects of osteoporosis when a course of drugs that costs as little as 27p a day can reduce the risk of fracture by up to half."

You can reduce brittle bone problems by cutting down on the amount of salt (sodium) you eat. This costs nothing and is completely safe. It has a host of other health benefits too. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

And see Sodium in foods.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!