The prevalence and risk factors of osteoporosis among the elderly in hamedan province: a cross sectional study

Background and objective: Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease and is a public health issue-particularly among the elderly-across the world. Given the significance of the disease in causing disability and in particular its dangers in old age we decided to examine osteoporosis and its determinant factors among the elderly.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the province of Hamedan from the second half of 2015 till the first half of 2016 on all the elderly men and women under coverage of the ‘Integrated and Comprehensive Elderly Care Program’. The data required for this study was collected through an aging healthcare checklist. To estimate the adjusted association of potential risk factors and other confounding variables of osteoporosis multiple logistic regression was used, employing estimation methods such as maximum likelihood at a significance level of 5%. Findings: In this cross-sectional study, 1779 elderly men and women aged 6o and over were studied. The prevalence of osteoporosis was 7.99% [95%CI: 7.79- 8.18]; it was higher among women than in men (8.08% vs. 7.83%). The factors that raised the probability of osteoporosis were: aging (OR=1.05, 95%CI:1.02-1.07, p<0.001), low education level (OR=1.96, 95%CI:1.02-3.84 p=0.04), living in urban areas (OR=2.82, 95%CI: 1.93-4.11, p<0.001), cigarette smoking (OR=1.95, 95%CI: 1.07-3.54, p=0.03), and family history of osteoporosis (OR=1.95, 95%CI: 1.07-3.54, p=0.03). Conclusion: Based on our results, aging, low education level, living in urban areas, being a cigarette smoker and having a family history of osteoporosis were all predicting factors for osteoporosis among the elderly.

Keywords:

Osteoporosis , Elderly , Prevalence , Iran , Hamadan