The incidence of osteoporosis among Filipino based on calcaneal quantitative ultrasonography

ABSTRACT

With the aging of the world's population, osteoporosis has emerged as a formidable health concern. Bone mineral density (BMD) is the only available clinical parameter for bone strength evaluation and is determined through the use of dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), the gold standard for the diagnosis of osteoporosis, and peripheral DEXA, such as calcaneal quantitative ultrasonography (QUS). This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study which aimed to determine the prevalence of osteoporosis among Filipinos, based on T-scores utilizing calcaneal quantitative ultrasonography. Baseline bone mineral density of 20,726 Filipinos were gathered based on the T-scores from calcaneal quantitative ultrasound results. The WHO criteria standardized the classification of BMD based on T-scores. Results showed that 3 percent of Filipinos were osteoporotic, 22 percent were osteopenic, while the rest were normal. The female sex and advanced age were key determinants of osteoporotic risk wheareas geographic location appears to have no influence.