International Journal of Research in Orthopaedics | March-April 2021 | Vol 7 | Issue 2 Page 362 International Journal of Research in Orthopaedics Babhulkar S et al. Int J Res Orthop. 2021 Mar;7(2):362-368 http://www.ijoro.org Original Research Article Prevalence of osteoporosis in India: an observation of 31238 adults Sushrut Babhulkar 1 , Shobhit Seth 2 * INTRODUCTION World Health Organization (WHO) categorizes bone loss based on bone mineral density (BMD) as osteoporosis with BMD T-score of <-2.5 standard deviation (SD) and as osteopenia with BMD T-score of -1.0 to -2.5 SD below the average value for young healthy women. 1 Bone loss, a “silent” process affecting millions of individuals around the globe is often overlooked. Osteoporosis predisposes to fragility fractures and development of such fractures is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality especially in elderly. 2 Globally, nearly 200 million people suffer from osteoporosis each year. 3 WHO identifies that there is relative lack of quantitative data from developing countries on incidence and prevalence of osteoporosis. 4 From India, reported prevalence of osteoporosis from various studies among women is 8 to 62%. 5 This shows wide variation in prevalence across India. Further, the risk of osteoporosis is higher in women than men and in elderly than young adults. In line with this, recent study from North India reported higher osteoporosis prevalence in women (3 and 36.4% women aged 30 to 39 years and >70 years respectively) than men (0 and 5.6% for the two age groups respectively). Additionally, prevalence of ABSTRACT Background: Aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of bone loss (both osteopenia and osteoporosis) at national and regional levels in India. Methods: In this retrospective study, data obtained from in-clinic screening camps conducted for bone loss was analysed. Participants were apparently healthy adults (aged 18 years and above) evaluated for bone mineral density (BMD) using calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (QUS) of left foot. Based on t score of BMD obtained, participants were labelled as normal (T-score <-1 SD), osteopenia (t score-1 to -2.5 SD) and osteoporosis (t score <-2.5 SD). Results: In total, data of 31238 participants was analysed retrospectively. Mean age was 47.8±14.2 years and 47.6% were females. Among females, 38.8% were postmenopausal women (age >50 years). Overall prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis was 49.9 and 18.3% respectively. Across East, West, North and South India, the prevalence of osteopenia was 51.3, 47.9, 55.6 and 47.4% respectively whereas prevalence of osteoporosis was 18.4, 16.3, 16.4 and 20.7% respectively. Prevalence of osteoporosis was slightly higher in females than males (19.4 vs 17.3%). Among postmenopausal women, overall osteoporosis prevalence was 33.1% and ranged from 16.9% in North region to 21.8% South region. Prevalence of osteoporosis (37.0 vs 12.5%) was higher in elderly (≥60 years) than adults (<60 years). Conclusions: Among adults, nearly one out of two have osteopenia and one out of five have osteoporosis. Osteoporosis prevalence was higher in the women and in the elderly. Nearly one out of three women in postmenopausal age group have osteoporosis. There is no substantial difference across the four regions of the country. Considering the significant prevalence of low BMD, there is need to increase the awareness about bone health in general population. Keywords: Osteoporosis, Osteopenia, Bone mineral density, Postmenopausal women, Elderly, India 1 Sushrut Institute of Medical Sciences, Research Centre and Post-Graduate Institute of Orthopedics, Ramdaspeth, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India 2 Department of Medical Affairs, Integrace Health Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Received: 18 December 2020 Accepted: 18 January 2021 *Correspondence: Dr. Shobhit seth, E-mail: shobhit.Seth@integracehealth.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/issn.2455-4510.IntJResOrthop20210630