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From: Ray K on 10 Mar 2007 15:08
When the drug pushers are trying to scare us into taking one of their
drugs, they cite *relative* risk of some undesirable event happening if
we don't take their magic molecule. But it's very hard - not impossible
- to find the *absolute* risk.

If the odds of an event like a fracture increase from one in a million
to two in a million, mathematically, that's a 100 percent increase. But
who cares?

There's a wonderful fracture risk calculator here:

http://courses.washington.edu/bonephys/opTZconvert.html

The calculator shows that a woman my age, 68, with my lumbar T-score of
-2.79, and none of the "Other Factors," has a lifetime risk of *any*
osteoporotic fracture of a mere 10 percent. The spine fracture risk
during the next five years is less than 1 percent. For me as a man, my
risks are even less.

The importance of knowing my lumbar T-score is simply the awareness of
the number. Now I can focus on improving my diet and supplements, and
being extra mindful of risky activities and tripping hazards that can
lead to falls. Merck, Lilly, and the rest can keep their molecules.

Ray
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