New NIH website offers easy access to information on bone health, August 12, 2010 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Thursday, August 12, 2010 Contact:
Trish Reynolds
301-496-8190

New NIH website offers easy access to information on bone health
A new Web resource providing people with the latest science-based information on bone health and bone disease is available through the NIH Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases ~ National Resource Center (NRC). The site is www.bones.nih.gov.

Strong bones are essential to overall health and quality of life. Visitors to the NRC site will learn about strategies for bone health, such as the prevention and management of osteoporosis, a common bone disease that makes bones weak and prone to fracture. One feature is the Check Up On Your Bones tool, an online interactive bone health assessment that provides personalized information on osteoporosis risk, as well as approaches to enhance bone health.

Materials on the site fill important gaps in information, such as the lack of knowledge among men about osteoporosis. Members of various multicultural communities, including Hispanics and Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, and American Indians and Alaska Natives, will find resources specific to their needs. Bone health information is available in English, Spanish and Chinese languages.

In addition to materials on bone health and osteoporosis, the NRC also provides information on the rarer Paget's disease of bone and osteogenesis imperfecta ("brittle bone disease"). Additional materials on other rare bone diseases are planned for the coming year.

The website features quick and easy navigation tools to help identify and locate topics of interest. Landing pages provide all of the information offered on a given topic conveniently in one place. There are also multiple ways to search for information, including by user type, language, reading level, key word and disease.

The NRC is supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases with contributions from the National Institute on Aging, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office on Women's Health.

The NRC provides patients, health professionals and the public with an important link to resources and information on osteoporosis and related bone diseases. The mission of the NRC is to expand awareness and enhance knowledge and understanding of the prevention, early detection, and treatment of these diseases, as well as strategies for coping with them.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
New NIH website offers easy access to information on bone health, August 12, 2010 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)