BATON ROUGE — It's called a silent disease because there are no symptoms of early-stage osteoporosis.

The disease, which can make bones brittle and weak, is usually found after a fracture or during screening.

"It's just a matter of age and time and nonuse of your bones that it slowly develops,"
Paul Lewis, a radiologist at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, said.

He says osteoporosis screening isn't invasive but critical, as it can detect the condition before bones are broken. New guidelines recommend all women over age 65 have a bone mineral density test.

Women of any age at increased risk for the disease are also advised to be screened.

"It's almost as simple as getting X-rays taken. You lay on the table, and they focus on the hip or the spine or your wrist. And a score is computed from that,” Lewis said.

That score helps determine bone density. If it's low, Lewis says several medications can stop bone loss or help build bone back.

Consistently doing weight-bearing exercises or aerobics can also help prevent the disease.

He says the new recommendations are due to an increase in injury and even death linked to these types of fractures in the last seven years.

"The jury is still out on men getting screened, uh, but typically men with risk factors of osteoporosis, should be screened as well. That decision though comes between the patient and their physician,” Lewis said.