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Aims and Learning Outcomes

An award-bearing independent module for medical professionals who want a short course in this subject and who may not wish to embark upon the full MSc.

This module offers a theoretical understanding of the aetiology, diagnosis and modern management of osteoporosis, an increasingly important condition both in general medicine and in reproductive health care.


Learn to
  • Appreciate the epidemiology and pathophysiology of osteoporosis
  • Understand the clinical risk factors for osteoporosis and have an appreciation of the available strategies for identifying high-risk individuals
  • Understand the differences between the technologies for bone density and bone turnover measurement and appreciate their place in clinical practice
  • Distinguish between primary and secondary osteoporosis
  • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the available treatments to prevent or slow the development of osteoporosis
  • Appreciate how the disabilities of osteoporosis may be minimised
  • Appreciate the  possible factors underlying falls in the elderly, and strategies to reduce risk
  • Appreciate the importance of critical appraisal and evidence-based medicine and to apply these principles in the clinical setting of osteoporosis
Course structure
  • Epidemiology of osteoporosis
  • Eating disorders and osteoporosis
  • Health economics of osteoporosis
  • Bone density and bone turnover assessment
  • Normal bone metabolism
  • The role of clinical risk factors in osteoporosis
  • Pathophysiology of osteoporosis
  • Treatments to preserve bone
  • Primary and secondary osteoporosis
  • Falls in the elderly and their prevention
  • The role of the menopause
  • Minimising the disability in osteoporosis
  • Corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis
  • Clinical guidelines in osteoporosis