Prevalence of osteoporosis-osteopenia at lumbar spine and femur in an urban female population. An epidemiological study in the Athens Metropolitan area, Greece

The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia in a female urban population. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry measurements were done at the lumbar spine (6920 females) and at the femur (3222 females) Bone mineral density (BMD) and corresponding T-scores were analysed using multivariate regression models. In females, the prevalence rate of osteoporosis was 15.3% at the lumbar spine and of osteopenia 36.5%. In females osteoporosis rate at the femur was 17.7% for the neck, 30.65% for the ward’s triangle and 1.86% for the tronchater, whereas the osteopenic rates were 53.3%, 44.7% and 32.09% respectively. A polynominal cubic model performed for age showed the steepest decline at the age of 55 years for the spine BMD (-0.973% change, 95% CI -1.031/-0.915) and at the age of 64 years for the femur BMD (-0.726% change, 95% CI - 0.793/-0.658). Actually sensitive interventions for prevention of osteoporosis in urban population need serious concern.