Osteoporosis needs to be understood in context to other bone diseases in the ageing population which may be confused with osteoporosis and present a similar clinical picture.
The generic term osteopenia may be used to cover the group of generalised diseases of bone which present with a radiological picture of a decreased amount of mineralised bone. This term is useful because it does not presuppose any particular bone pathology or disease from the radiological picture. In most cases, osteopenia will be due to osteoporosis. A similar radiological picture of osteopenia, however, can be produced by osteomalacia, osteitis fibrosa cystica (the bone disease sometimes associated with primary hyperparathyroidism), and the osteopenia associated with myeloma and other malignant diseases.
