Case: A 78-year-old woman presents to your primary care office complaining of aching lower back pain for the last two weeks. She states that the pain began after she had been lifting some heavy weights while exercising in the gym. She also feels that she is getting shorter. She denies any neurologic symptoms. She smokes one pack of cigarettes a day, consumes two drinks of alcohol a day, and up to 1 liter of cola beverages a day. Her current medications are rosiglitazone, omeprazole, sertraline and prednisone. On physical examination, you note that she is slightly hunched forward. She has point tenderness around the T12 to L1 region. An x-ray of her spine reveals a compression fracture at L1 vertebra. A bone scan reveals the presence of significant osteoporosis. When you discuss her T score results with the patient, she asks you, ‘Doc, what is osteoporosis? Which of the following T scores best describes osteoporosis?
