Her Health first sheds light on women’s health issues – specifically those that are among the most pressing today including bone health, heart health, and cancer. Learn more about some surprising findings from our survey of women on their awareness of health issues and barriers to action; get health information and tools to prioritize your health; and then share what you’ve learned with women in your life so that each woman feels empowered to put her health first, and can encourage other women to do the same.
Bone Health
Even though you’re feeling great on the outside, your bones could be telling a different story on the inside.
Worldwide, osteoporosis causes more than 8.9 million fractures every year, equivalent to a fracture every 3 seconds.
Globally, about four in five (around 80%) of those individuals who break a bone are neither identified nor treated for osteoporosis that was responsible for the fracture.
If it leads to a hip fracture, osteoporosis can jeopardize your ability to do the things you love and get around on your own.
Bone Health Survey Results
A recent survey in Canada revealed some unexpected findings about how women view bone health and the challenges that they face:
Overall, women know about the signs of osteoporosis
Many of the women knew that a bone that breaks that easily (84%) and loss of height over time (63%) are signs of deteriorating bone health, but fewer women (42%) were aware that back pain could also be a symptom.
When it comes to screening tools there is a gap between awareness and action
More than three in four women (78%) said that bone density scans are important or very important in understanding your bone health; but 43% of survey respondents had never had one.
Physicians are trusted but do not consistently raise important women’s health topics
Ninety percent of women surveyed said they see their doctor or healthcare provider as a trustworthy source of information. However, nearly one in three (30%) women who had not spoken to their doctor about bone health had not done so because it was not proactively raised by their physician.
