Decreased bone mineral density and associated risk factors in hospital visiting people of Islamabad

Objective: Besides aging there are multiple factors involved in decreasing Bone Mineral Density. Knowing the burden of the disease and its related factors in our population can help better treat this. Therefore, our objective was to identify subjects with low Bone Mineral Density (BMD) and its risk factors in hospital visiting people in Islamabad Material & Methods: Descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at Rawal Institute of Health Sciences, Islamabad in 3rd week of June, 2014. Total 300 persons including patients, attendants and hospital staff were selected. Calcaneus BMD was measured using ultrasound bone densitometer. T-score was calculated. Specific questionnaire form was filled to identify risk factors. Prevalence and prevalence ratio was calculated. Results: Out of 300 study sample, 178 (59.3%) are females. Mean age of the study population is 37.34 (SD=12.93). Overall, prevalence of osteopaenia and osteoporosis in the study population is 107 (35.7%) and 5 (1.7%) respectively. Prevalence of osteopaenia is seen more in elderly subjects, females, people with low Body Mass Index (BMI), people who are usually not exposed to sunlight and who are mostly bound to houses. Conclusion: Decreased BMD is associated with increasing age, female gender, low BMI, little exposure to sun light and being restrained to homes. It is not affected by daily milk intake, parity of females, cola drinking and smoking in our part of the world.