Kyiv, Vyshgorodska str., 67 (entrance off Kobzarska str.), 4th floor, room 105 
In October 2014, Prof. Vladyslav Volodymyrovych Povoroznyuk, President of the Ukrainian Association of Osteoporosis was awarded by the European Vitamin D Association Scientific society (EVIDAS) for his significant contribution into the developing medical science, training medical personnel, spreading knowledge and holding research on Vitamin D.
Vitamin D deficit is one of the urgent problems nowadays.
Its prevalence varies from country to country. The Ukrainian studies held under Prof. Povoroznyuk’s supervision showed a high frequency of Vitamin D deficit among school children (92 %) and adults (81 %). Among the European adults, a severe Vitamin D deficit is registered in 2-30 % of cases, although it may come up to 75 % and over in the elderly people and hospice residents (Bikle D.D., 2005). According to the US, Canadian and European estimates, 20-100 % of independent residents have a reduced Vitamin D status (Van Der Wielen R.P., 1995; Lips P., 2001; Larsen E.R., 2004). Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency risk remains as high for the elderly and older people as for children and young or middle-aged people. The Greek and Polish studies show that the mean Vitamin D level found the blood serum of nursling babies and their mothers is below the norm (Challa A., 2005; Czech-Kowalska J. et al., 2012). The double-randomized Chinese study reveals over 90 % of young women from Beijing and Hong-Kong suffering from a reduced Vitamin D status (Woo J., 2008).
In most countries Vitamin D deficit is triggered by age, reduced moving activity, hospice and nursing home residence, lack of being in the open sun, BMI, consumption of fat fish and fortified products, sex, style of dress, seasonal factors, geographical residence, socio-economic status, urban dwelling.
Numerous studies show that Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency do not only affect the locomotor apparatus but also serve as risk factors for a number of acute and chronic diseases, namely infectious, autoimmune, cardiovascular, diabetes mellitus of Types 1 and 2, several types of cancer, neurocognitive and mental disorders, as well as some other conditions, such as sterility and pathological pregnancies or labor (Pludowski P. et al., 2013, Поворознюк В.В. и соавт., 2013). Vitamin D level in blood serum is known to reach its peak late in summer, and its minimum late in winter when Ukraine and Poland are concerned (Brot C. et al., 2001, Поворознюк В.В., 2012).
Reasonable solar insulation which is the principal source of Vitamin D for children and adults (Holick M.F., 2007; Pludowski P., 2013), raising awareness about consumption of food naturally rich or artificially enriched with Vitamin D (Holick M.F., 2007) as well as daily supplementation of required Vitamin D doses is intended for maintain the levels within the norm.
To commemorate Prof. V.V. Povoroznyuk’s significant contribution into medical science, training medical personnel, spreading knowledge and holding studies of Vitamin D, in October 2014 Prof. V.V. Povoroznyuk was awarded a decoration by the European Vitamin D Association Scientific society (EVIDAS) (link to Awards).
The book presents the data on Vitamin D deficit epidemiology, describes its influence not only on the bone-muscular system but also other systems, offers the recent recommendations on treatment and prophylaxis of Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency for the Central European countries and the experience of their correction held under Prof. Povoroznyuk’s supervision.
he painters have been depicting the female beauty since the beginning of time, mainly focusing on the younger women. The ageing woman loses her attractiveness, but when does this sad loss start. How does it progress? What is the reason? The outstanding painting by G. Klimt ‘Three ages of woman’ is one of the first to honestly portray the looks of older woman. Her back is bent, her shoulders drooping, her waist is flat while the belly is protruding…And though her beautiful hair is covering her face, we have no doubt: this woman is old. It is this shape the young beauty is morphing into, due to osteoporosis, ‘the silent epidemic of the 21st century’.
Contrary to the widespread belief that osteoporosis results in ‘a simple Calcium depletion’, this condition is a metabolic skeletal disease characterized by the bone loss, compromised bone microarchitecture and subsequent increase in bone fragility and fracture risk. With osteoporosis, the fractures occur under no significant trigger. A slight bump, a fall from the patient’s height level, a sudden jolt (cough, sneeze, slight bodily contortion), and here comes the fracture. The most common initial osteoporotic fracture is the one of distal forearm. Later on, it is followed by the much more complicated and threatening ones – the vertebral and femoral head fractures. It is the vertebral fractures that cause the constant spinal aches, and curvature signaling the youth’s end. Every four out of 10 women suffer one or several osteoporotic fractures in their lifetime.
‘Three ages of woman’ by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, 1905. National Gallery of the Modern Art, Rome, Italy.
When should you start worrying about your back?
According to various studies, the skeleton starts ageing at 35 years when the woman is in her prime.
The critical point comes with the onset of menopause when the rate of bone loss drastically increases due to the estrogen, i.e. female hormone, deficit. Female bone loss starts at the age of 35-40 years, and amounts to 0, 5-1 % annually; however, with the menopausal onset (especially 3-5 years into post-menopause), the woman may lose 3-7 % of bone annually. In the first postmenopausal years, the bone loss amounts to 9-35 %, significantly aggravating the fracture risk. All the above-mentioned facts prove the importance of early osteoporotic prophylaxis.
The effective osteoporotic prophylaxis is associated with an adequate consumption of Calcium and Vitamin D. The normal daily amounts of Calcium are no less than 1000-1500 mg/day. However, during pregnancy and lactation women should get a lot more than that. As for the prophylaxis and treatment of Vitamin D deficit, read our recommendations here: http://osteoporos.com.ua/uk/evidas-uk/metodichni-rekomendacii. To promote the bone’s formation and maintenance, the women should also exercise regularly.
Who needs the osteoporotic prophylaxis and when:
- Long immobilization
- Smoking
- Alcohol abuse
- Reduced motor activity (hypodynamia)
- Alimentary factors (reduced calcium consumption, caffeine abuse)
- Endocrine disorders, kidney and intestinal diseases, rheumatic disorders (rheumatic arthritis, spondylarthrosis, systemic lupus, systemic sclerodermia, vasculites etc.) and neurological diseases (Parkinson’s, MS etc.).
- Certain medication: glucocorticoids, cytostatics (methotrexate, cyclosporine etc.), seizure medication, heparin, advanced doses of gonadotropinerelease hormone, antacids containing alluminium etc.
- Low body mass (BMI 19 c.u.) measured by the formula: BMI = [Body mass (kg)/height (m)]2,
- Osteoporosis and fragility (femoral head) fractures among the close relatives.
You’re invited to the Ukrainian Scientific-Medical Center of Osteoporosis Problems to find out whether you’re at risk for osteoporosis and to get a customized prophylaxis and, if need be, treatment program.
Spend 30 minutes on you. Save your youthful back.
The ‘sarcopenia’ (from Gr. Sarx- body, flesh, penia – decrease) term was introduced by Rozenberg I. to describe the age-related skeletal muscle loss in 1989.
In 1998, Baumgartner R. Defined sarcopenia as a syndrome associated with an increased fall risk and reduced physical strength (Rosenberg I., 1997; Rosenberg I., 1998; Morley J. E. et al., 2001).
According to the American Center for Disease Control (CDC), sarcopenia ranks among five principal risk factors for morbidity and mortality of people over 65 years (Rolland Y. et al., 2009; Burton L.A., Sumukadas D., 2010; Cruz-Jentoft A.J. et al., 2010).
Sarcopenia is associated with an increased fall risk, deteriorated life quality, moving disorders, reduced lifespan and increased mortality (Morley J.E. et al., 2009; Cruz-Jentoft A. et al., 2010; Di Monaco M. et al. 2011; Landi F. et al., 2012; Arango-Lopera V.E. et al., 2013; Landi F. et al., 2013).
In 2009, the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (EUGMS) created a working group, the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP), for studying sarcopenia in order to develop definitions and diagnostic criteria for the clinical trials and clinical practice (Cruz-Jentoft A.J. et al., 2010). Other European societies, such as the European Society of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN), the International Academy of Nutrition and Aging (IANA), the International Association of Gerontology, Geriatrics - European Region (IAGG-ER), were later invited to sit on the Working Group. As a result, five societies (EWGSOP, EUGMS, ESPEN, IAGG-ER, IANA) co-authored the first Consensus on Sarcopenia Diagnostics (Cruz-Jentoft A. J. et al., 2010; Volpato S. et al., 2014).
Sarcopenia’s prevalence varies greatly (5 – 70 %) depending on age, sex and ethnicity (Di Monaco M., 2011; Cruz-Jentoft A. J., 2010; Buehring B., Binkley N., 2013).
In the recent years, a new term, sarco-osteoporosis, comes up signifying a combination of sarcopenia and osteoporosis which leads to a significantly increased fall risk, fragility fractures, morbidity and mortality. Its invention is prompted by the fact that in multiple studies more than 50 % of elderly and older patients had both sarcopenia and osteoporosis (Burton L. A., Sumukadas D., 2010; Di Monaco M. et al., 2011; Verschueren S. et al., 2013).
Sarcopenia’s urgency and its medicosocial consequences have a global reach. In Ukraine, the first sarcopenia studies were performed under Prof. V.V. Povoroznyuk’s supervision.
You’re invited to the Ukrainian Scientific-Medical Center of Osteoporosis Problems to be diagnosed for sarcopenia and to get answers on prophylaxis and treatment.
The painters have been depicting the female beauty since the beginning of time
