Hundreds of medical experts from China and abroad Thursday gathered in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, to discuss the prevention, diagnosis and the treatment of osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis, a disease in which the density and quality of bones are reduced, leading to weakness of the skeleton and increased risk of fracture, has been recognized as a major health problem worldwide, said Ma Jianwen, deputy director of China Pharmaceutical Analysis Commission.

The 2005 International Osteoporosis Conference opened Thursday in Hangzhou, with more than 500 participants and medical experts from home and abroad, including Canada, America, Britain, France, Australia, Iran and Japan.

According to the statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 1.7 million hip fractures, the most costly and serious bone fractures, occurred throughout the world in 1990. Due to the increase of population and life expectancy, that number is expected to rise to over 6 million by 2050, Ma said.

Harry K. Genant, chairman of the WHO Osteoporosis Task Force, said with an aging population, some Asian countries, particularly China, face great challenges in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis among its senior citizens.

Therefore, it's very important for Chinese researchers to establish a diagnosis standard for the Chinese population, he said.

The three-day conference was jointly sponsored by the Medical Science and Technology Education Department of China's Health Ministry, the Chinese Development Foundation for Science and Technology and the Chinese Orthopedic Association under the Chinese Medical Association.

Oct. 20 was established as "World Osteoporosis Day" by WHO in 1996 and since 2000, China has held an annual international conference on osteoporosis.

(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2005)