Those who have osteoporosis see their bone density thin as more bone cells are lost than replaced as one ages. It affects about one in three women and one in five men around the world, according to the International Osteoporosis Foundation.

"Eventually, a panel of genetic markers could be used in addition to environmental risk factors to identify individuals who are most at risk for osteoporotic fractures," wrote Spector and Richards.

These changes were present in 20 percent of the people studied and highlight the potential role of screening for osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disease that mainly affects women after menopause, they said in the journal Lancet.
In the Lancet study, the team scanned the genes of 2,094 female twins and identified a link between decreased bone mineral density and changes in chromosomes 8 and 11.

In chromosome 11, the change was associated with a 30 percent increased risk of the condition and related fractures, and for chromosome 8, the mutation raised risk by 20 percent.

For people who had both changes, their risk went up by 30 percent.

These two genes are important targets for treatments, and drugs are already under development, the researchers said.

More Industry Headlines