Osteopenia is a loss of bone mineral density that weakens bones, but bone mass is not low enough to be osteoporosis.
Deeper dive
Osteopenia is more common in people older than 50, especially post-menopausal women and in people with poor nutrition. Family history, insufficient calcium or Vitamin D are risk factors for osteopenia. While not everyone with low bone mass gets osteoporosis, they are at increased risk of developing it.
Osteopenia has no signs or symptoms, but a painless screening test can measure bone density, according to the Cleveland Clinic. BMD is diagnosed via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) bone scans. Osteopenia, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a t-score between -1 to -2.5, while values less than -2.5 are diagnostic for osteoporosis. Certain lifestyle changes can help people with osteopenia preserve bone density and prevent osteoporosis.