Definition of "osteopenia" []

• A generalized reduction in bone mass that is less severe than that resulting from osteoporosis, caused by the resorption of bone at a rate that exceeds bone synthesis. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The precursor of osteoporosis is called osteopenia; you technically have osteoporosis when your bone density falls low enough that only 5 percent of twenty-year-old women have less than you."
• "The company's effort involved urging doctors to treat patients not only for osteoporosis but also for a milder form of bone loss known as osteopenia, which is common among middle-aged women."
• "In other words, they had some evidence of bone thinning, sometimes called osteopenia, but they didn't have osteoporosis."