Study of Prevalence of Low Bone Mineral Density among Urban Population and its Relationship with Body Mass Index

Background: Osteoporosis among people living in urban areas has become one of the major public health problems due to changes in lifestyle. Individuals with osteoporosis are at high risk of suffering from fractures.

Purpose of the study: To determine the prevalence of Low Bone Mineral Density among Urban Population and its relationship with Body Mass Index. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among healthy middle class urban population in Navi Mumbai city, Maharashtra. 200 participants above 20 years were screened in a private clinic for Bone Mineral Density (BMD). The BMD was measured using a quantitative ultrasound device. T-score measurement was used to determine the BMD level. BMI machine Omron model no HBF-375 was used to calculate body mass index. The data was analysed using Microsoft excel, presented as frequency, mean and Standard Deviation. Unpaired T-test was used for comparison of the data.

Results: Out of the total 200 study participants, 64% and 36% were females and males respectively. The overall prevalence of Osteoporosis and Osteopenia was 10.5% and 52.5% respectively. The mean T score for females and males was -1.273 and -1.247 respectively. The prevalence of low BMD was 71.1% and 34.7% among females and males respectively. Mean T scores for those with BMI > 25 was-1.264 and those with BMI < 25 was -1.075. The prevalence of low BMD was 68.9% and 56.4% among patients with BMI more than 25 and less than 25 respectively.

Conclusions: The prevalence of Low BMD was high in this study group. It was high in persons above 50 years. Low BMD was found to be higher in women than in men. In this study, the T- score for those with BMI above 25 was lower than for those with BMI below 25. This study showed low BMD in obese persons. Therefore it appears that, obesity does not have protective effect on BMD.