Prevalence of low forearm bone mineral density in Bulgarian men: a pilot study

Figures & data

Table I.  Age-stratified clinical data of the whole study group (n = 305 men).

	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. deviation
Age (years)	20	84	53.7	14.7
Height (cm)	150.1	196.0	175.3	7.6
Weight (kg)	46.3	154.7	79.9	19.0
BMI (kg/m^2)	17.5	51.9	26.0	6.0
Distal BMD (g/cm^2)	0.323	0.700	0.524	0.069
Ultradistal BMD	0.222	0.717	0.445	0.078
Distal t-score	−4.95	1.33	−1.60	1.15
Ultradistal t-score	−3.60	2.59	−0.80	0.98

Table II.  Reported major risk factors for osteoporosis as a percentage of the total male study sample.

Risk factors	Prevalence
Caucasian (White)	100%
Parental history of low-trauma fractures after age 50	25.4%
Previous low-trauma fractures	22.2%
Diagnosed male hypogonadism	2.5%
Alcohol excess (>6 oz/weekly)	7.0%
Use of corticosteroids (>5 mg Prednisolone/d)	7.9%
Smokers (current or ever smoked)	50.1%
Body mass index <21 kg/m^2	6.4%
Calcium intake <600 mg/d	79.4%
Other secondary causes for osteoporosis (drugs, diseases)	14.9%
Protective factors
Calcium and/or vitamin D supplements	7.9%
Androgen replacement therapy	1.1%*

*hypogonadal men only.

Table III.  Age-stratified forearm BMD and t-scores in the studied men are shown. Data are presented as means ± standard deviations.

Age group (years)	n	Distal site BMD (g/cm^2)	Ultradistal site BMD (g/cm^2)	Distal site t-score*	Ultradistal site t-score*
20–29	24	0.501 ± 0.073	0.452 ± 0.081	–
30–39	29	0.560 ± 0.065	0.490 ± 0.070	–	–
40–49	59	0.543 ± 0.064	0.466 ± 0.077	–	–
50–59	85	0.530 ± 0.065	0.449 ± 0.079	−1.50 ± 1.08	−0.76 ± 0.99
60–69	69	0.520 ± 0.069	0.432 ± 0.074	−1.67 ± 1.14	−0.97 ± 0.93
70–84	49	0.492 ± 0.064	0.412 ± 0.069	−2.14 ± 1.07	−1.22 ± 0.87

*t-scores are shown according to the ISCD for men 50 years and older [12].

Figure 1. (a) Mean distal site BMD (g/cm²) plotted on age (years) – linear regression; (b) Mean distal site BMD (g/cm²) plotted on weight (kg) – linear regression.

Figure 2. (a) Mean ultradistal site BMD (g/cm²) plotted on age (years) – linear regression; (b) Mean ultradistal site BMD (g/cm²) plotted on weight (kg) – linear regression.

Figure 3. Mean weight (kg) plotted on age (years) – linear regression.

Figure 4. Age-stratified prevalence of forearm low bone mass and osteoporosis in men aged over 50 years based on the distal site (n = 203).

Figure 5. Age-stratified prevalence of forearm low bone mass and osteoporosis in men aged over 50 years based on the ultradistal site (n = 203).

Table IV.  Prevalence of osteoporosis and low bone density of the forearm in the male study group aged 50 and older compared to a previous publication from the same clinical setting in women aged 50 and older [13]. The data are based on the distal forearm site.

Age group (years)	Male group (n = 203)	Female group (n = 6221)
Normal BMD	30.04% (n = 61)	47.05% (n = 2927)
Low BMD	48.77% (n = 99)	32.50% (n = 2022)
Osteoporosis	21.19% (n = 43)	20.45% (n = 1272)

The Writing Group for the ISCD Position Development Conference. Diagnosis of osteoporosis in men, premenopausal women, and children. J Clin Densitometry 2004; 7: 17–26

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Boyanov M, Popivanov P. Prevalence of low forearm bone density in a Bulgarian female referral population. Osteoporos Int 2002; 13: 288–295

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