Long known to be a concern of aging women, osteoporosis turns out to be nearly as common in older men, a new study suggests.

Doctors routinely screen women in their sixties for thinning bones. But there are no guidelines for checking the bones of male patients. Physicians tend to look for osteoporosis in men only after a problem -- like a suspicious fracture -- occurs.

Dr. Sherita H. Golden, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist and the author of the new study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Matabolism, said she and her colleagues were surprised by the findings.

Falling estrogen levels contribute to thinning bones in women and low testosterone levels have been linked to bone loss, Golden said, so it does make sense that the hormonal changes of aging, regardless of gender, could lead to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis makes bones fragile and more likely to break, which can leave sufferers debilitated and deformed.

Another surprising finding: Osteopenia, a less severe form of bone loss, is actually more prevalent in aging men than in aging women.

Golden would like to see the study of men duplicated. If the results match up, she thinks the answer is clear: Men should be screened just as carefully for bone loss as women.

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