Prevalence of low central bone mineral density in Bulgarian men: a pilot study

摘要

Background: Osteoporosis is one of the most important health problems in modern society affecting men and women, The prevalence of male osteoporosis in Bulgaria is unknown.Objective: To determine the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis at the spine and hip in a male cohort referred for bone density testing.Subjects and methods: The study included 200 consecutive Bulgarian men (age 25-87 years) free from major risk factors for osteoporosis. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at the lumbar spine in all participants and left hip in 100 of the participants. T-scores were calculated from Hologic provided and NHANES III male reference data.Results: Lumbar spine BMD decreased from a peak of 0.939+-0.132 at age 35-44 years and to 0.875+-0.227 g/cm~2 over the age of 70 years. Total hip BMD changed from 0.813+-0.215 at age 20-44 years to 0.679+-0.112 g/cm2 over the age of 75 years. Spinal T-scores therefore showed a very slow decline with age in contrast to total hip and proximal femur, In men aged over 50 years the mean prevalence of osteoporosis at the spine was 24 6%, compared with 5.9% at the total hip and 9.4% at the femoral neck. At the spinal site 40.2% had normal BMD, compared with 52 9% at the total hip and 40.0% at the femoral neck.Conclusions: We found a high prevalence of spinal osteoporosis in Bulgarian men.