OSTEOPENIA AND OSTEOPOROSIS;

Frequency among females

Abstract

Objective: Osteopenia and osteoporosis are one of the main health concerns of
Pakistani females now days. Our objective was to study the frequency of osteopenia and
osteoporosis among females in the Faisalabad and its suburbs. Material and Methods: Study
was initiated after approval of Ethical Review Committee. It was an observational cross sectional
study conducted by the Department of Community Medicine, University Medical & Dental
College Faisalabad in a private sector university of Faisalabad city and a private clinic in People’s
colony, Faisalabad. Study included a total of 600 women. Convenient sampling was done. Study
was conducted from 1st January 2013 to 30th September 2013 in six different sessions. Age,
marital status, education, socio-economic status (SES), occupation, parity and residence were
variables of interest. Bone Mineral Density (BMD) was tested using calcaneal quantitative
ultrasound machine and right heel of participant. Machine converted the BMD values into TScore.
According to the recommendations of World Health Organization (WHO) participant was
considered normal, osteopenic and osteoporotic. SPSS version 16 for windows was used to
analyze data. Results were considered significant if p - value was < 0.05. Results: Our results
reflected that 72.9% of study participants were osteopenic while 2.4 % were osteoporotic and
24.7% were normal. By place of residence no significant difference was observed, 48% of rural
population and 47% of urban population was osteopenic and insignificant correlation was found
(p=0.438). However, 46.77% and 10% of urban participants were normal and osteoporotic
respectively. Education in relation to osteopenia and osteoporosis revealed that 42% of educated
females were osteopenic while 31.33% of illiterate females were osteopenic (p > 0.05). 69.88%
married females were osteopenic and 43.22% unmarried females were osteopenic (p < 0.001).
Conclusions: In our study frequency of osteopenia and osteoporosis was significantly high in all
age groups. There is need for large-scale population-based studies using calcaneal quantitative
ultrasound or DEXA scan to assess the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis in the
community. Further health education with special reference to balanced diet should be imparted
to target population.