Osteoporosis & Osteopenia

Just the facts

What’s the difference? Osteoporosis is a disease that breaks down the tissue in our bones, making them fragile and more likely to break. Osteopenia is not a disease, but a term that describes low bone density. Both can lead to painful fractures. Every day we learn more about both of these conditions and how to prevent them.

While osteopenia is not considered a disease, being diagnosed with osteopenia requires further monitoring. Preventive measures should be taken since osteoporosis may develop if bone density loss increases.


As a result of a bone density test, your physician may tell you that you have osteopenia. This is not a disease, but a term created by the World Health Organization (WHO) to describe low bone mass. Bone density tests provide results as a "T-Score," and osteopenia is defined as the range of low bone mass before osteoporosis, or a T-Score between –1 and –2.5. It is estimated that 34 million American women and 12 million American men have osteopenia; therefore it is critical to consider osteoporosis prevention options such as healthy diet and weight-bearing exercise if you find yourself in this T-Score range. The T-Score range represents mathematical standard deviations away from the bone mass of a normal young adult. Just as one's height and weight varies with genetics, it is believed that bone mass varies. Therefore, a person's bone mass may naturally fall below "normal," and this does indicate bone loss or reason for alarm. On the other side of the coin, we know that T-Score is not always a foolproof predictor of one's likelihood to fracture a bone. Therefore, if you have several risk factors, such as a history of osteoporosis or non-traumatic fractures in your family, you may consider a diagnosis of osteopenia with more seriousness. In all cases, it is an ideal time to tackle prevention measures.