Prevalence of osteopenic syndrome and osteoporosis among residents of the older age group of Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease. However, because it is asymptomatic, it cannot be diagnosed until a clinical event such as a fracture occurs. It is osteoporotic fractures, not osteoporosis itself, that lead to noticeable clinical and economic consequences.The aim. To study the frequency of osteopenia and osteoporosis in the older age group of the population of Kyrgyzstan using ultrasound bone densitometry.Materials and methods. A total of 1988 people were examined – 1105 women, 883 men. By age, the patients were divided into three age groups: 40–59, 60–74 and 75–90 years old. A portable ultrasonic bone densitometer SONOST-3000 (South Korea) was used to measure bone mineral density.Results. The prevalence of osteoporosis, osteopenia, and normal bone mineral density in the first age group was 20.9 %, 40.0 % and 39.1 %; in the second group – 30.2 %, 38.9 % and 30.9 %, and in the third group – 39.9 %, 34.9 % and 25.2 %, respectively. The incidence of osteoporosis increased with age and was gender-dependent – more common in women (p < 0.05 and p < 0.041, respectively). The probability of developing osteoporosis was lower in patients with a higher body weight (p < 0.002). Smoking had a bad effect on bone density (p < 0.001), physical exercise, on the contrary, inhibited the development of osteoporosis (p < 0.001). The use of alcohol and tea had no effect on the development of osteoporosis in our study (p = 0.421, p = 0.387, respectively).Conclusions. The study of osteoporosis from an epidemiological point of view in Kyrgyz residents revealed a higher-than-expected incidence of osteoporosis according to densitometry. Further large-scale studies are needed throughout the country, which will help to understand the outcome of low bone mineral density in the population of Kyrgyz residents.