Osteoporosis: Radiologist says exposure to morning sunlight help prevention

Prof. Ngozi Njeze, a radiologist at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, said on Saturday that exposing the body to morning sunlight will help prevent osteoporosis.

Njeze said this during the 208th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), entitled “There Was a Beginning: The Film of Pain and the Pain of Film.”.

She said osteoporosis was a disease that could present with pain, especially when there was a fracture of a bone anywhere in the body.

Njeze disclosed that osteoporosis, also known as osteopenia, was an age-related disease with a loss of muscle mass that resulted in weakness and body pain and was highly prevalent in the black race.

According to her, it is more prevalent than previously thought.

She added that if one checked around, one could easily count two or three people who fractured their bones without provoking an impact.

“This unprovoked fracture is osteoporosis until proved otherwise using the DXA machine.

“Osteoporosis may also arise from hormonal changes. These hormones coordinate different functions in our body.

“Deficiency of bone-healthy nutrients like calcium makes the body draw calcium from the bone, where the body stores most of its calcium. Vitamin D deficiency causes poor absorption of calcium and phosphorous.

“Once there are these deficiencies, there will be an increased risk of falls and fractures. The prevalence of osteoporosis is one in three for adult females who are over 50 years old,” she said.

Njeze said that if there were three women in a room, one of them would have osteoporosis, and that one out of five men over the age of 60 would also suffer from osteoporosis.

“If left untreated, fractures will lead to increased morbidity and mortality and, therefore, a reduced life expectancy.

“As a result of my advocacy programmes on osteoporosis on radio, we are constantly advising our people to maximise the period of morning sunlight to expose our bodies adequately to sunlight,” she said.

Njeze disclosed that her team had set up the first fracture registry in Nigeria at the UNTH for the treatment of bone diseases.

She revealed that the registry had put UNTH on the world osteoporosis map, as well as all the countries that had fracture registry entries on the map.

According to the radiologist, Enugu, Nigeria is the only one for now, and they hope to expand their services to other centres in the country.

“Based on training, bone health advocacy, research, and mentorship, among others, I won the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Committee of National Societies Medal in 2021.

“In IOF, I was the Vice Chair of the Regional Advisory Council (RAC) Africa 2022–2024, and I am also a member of the WHO Bone Health Expert Working Group (BOHEG), she said.

Supreme News reports that Njeze is currently a member of the board of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) for 2024–2028.

IOF is the largest organisation that deals with bone and musculoskeletal diseases in the world.