Prevalence of Osteoporosis in Women in Buenos Aires Based on Bone Mineral Density at the Lumbar Spine and Femur

MAUTALEN C ; SCHIANCHI A; SIGAL D; GIANETTI G; VIDAN V; BAGUR A; GONZALEZ D ; MASTAGLIA S ; OLIVERI B

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL DENSITOMETRY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016

1094-6950

The aim of the study was to report values for osteoporosis (OP) prevalence in Buenos Aires. Bone mineraldensity (BMD) at different skeletal sites was measured from November 2012 to July 2014. Participants wererecruited through a newspaper advertisement inviting women at least 50 yr of age to receive free BMD measurement. After signing an informed consent form, 5448 women living in Buenos Aires and surrounding districtswere studied. Lumbar spine (L1?L4), femur neck, and total hip BMDs were measured (Lunar Prodigy, softwareversion 12.3 GE, Madison, WI, USA). OP was defined as a T-score ≤−2.5 at the lumbar spine or the femoralneck. Results showed that 1021 out of 5448 studied subjects (18.7%) had OP at the lumbar spine or the femoralneck. Comparison of age of the population sample with reference data for the general population showed amoderate (+0.6%) increase in prevalence. Prevalence of OP was low, up to the age of 70 yr when based on femoralneck BMD only. Conversely, the prevalence of OP at the lumbar spine, which was reportedly high in women upto the age of 70 yr, tended to level off over that age. The results of the total femur only added a slight (+0.7%)nonsignificant increase to the OP prevalence. A total 346,500 out of 1,853,000 women aged 50+ yr in BuenosAires had OP at the lumbar spine or femoral neck, whereas only 163,500 had OP at the upper femur, reducingthe number by 53%. The present study assessed OP prevalence in the most densely populated urban area inArgentina. The results are similar to those reported for Caucasian populations in the United States and Canada.As measurement of only the BMD of femoral neck overlooks the diagnosis in half of the women, future studiesshould include measurement of the lumbar spine in combination with the femoral neck for a more accurateestimation of OP prevalence.