Objective: Osteoporosis is a major health problem among older long-term care residents (LTCRs), and its prevalence is high in Asia. However, most previous studies on LTCRs’ osteoporosis used peripheral DXA to measure BMD, which may not accurately reflect the true BMD of the central skeletal sites. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of osteoporosis among older LTCRs using central BMD measurement. Methods: A convenience sampling method was used to recruit 103 LTCRs from National Taiwan University Hospital Yun-Lin branch and 341 LTCRs from Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital. Participants were aged C 50 years and living in long-term care facilities. Baseline characteristics information was collected. The BMD of the PA spine and hip were measured using the DXA method. Results: The prevalence of osteoporosis was very high among LTCRs in Taiwan, especially in women (75.4%) compared to men (37.7%). Total osteoporosis prevalence was 48.4% among the study population. The femoral neck was the most common site for osteoporosis diagnosis (44.8%), followed by total hip (22.7%) and spine (19.3%).After stratification by age, the prevalence of osteoporosis did not differ much between men aged 50–79 and C 80 years (31.1% and 40.4%, respectively). However, the prevalence of osteoporosis among women aged C 80 years was extremely high (85%), and much more than that among women aged 50–79 years (66.7%). Conclusion: Our study offers abundant evidence on the prevalence of osteoporosis among older LTCRs using central BMD measurement, which is more accurate than peripheral DXA. The high prevalence of osteoporosis among older LTCRs, especially among women, suggests that more attention should be paid to the care of bone health among this vulnerable population. This study may serve as a reference for those who want to treat osteoporosis or care for bone health among older LTCRs.
Date:
2023-07-21
Relation:
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research. 2023 Jul 21;35:S167-S168.
