Prevalence of osteoporosis of the priests.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of osteoporosis in priests MATERIAL AND METHOD: A cross sectional study was done in priests to evaluate the mineral bone density (BMD) measured by ultrasonography scanning at calcaneum in the out patients clinic of Priest Hospital and in the temples of central Bangkok. Questionnaire about related health behavior and past history of fracture including co-morbidity were reviewed. RESULT: The BMD showed that 49.32% of the examined priests had osteopenia, 45.68% had normal BMD, and only 5.01% had osteoporosis. CONCLUSION: Osteopenia and osteoporosis in the priests were correlated with aging, longer duration of being priests, domicile in rural areas, and inadequate duration of standing and walking activity per day.