Abstract
Introduction
Osteoporosis is a common disease affecting 20 % of all men. It accounts for more than 1.5 million fractures yearly in the USA. Up to 20 % of patients who sustain hip fractures die within the first 12 months from related complications. The Endocrine Society recommends screening all men 70 years or older regardless of risk factors. There are little data comparing gender-specific osteoporosis screening rates. The aim of the study is to identify any gender difference in osteoporosis screening.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective study to determine the screening rates for osteoporosis in males and females in our Division of Internal Medicine, university-based outpatient clinic (UBC). Males aged 70–75 years and females aged 65–70 years with a primary care physician (PCP) at our UBC, who have had at least one routine health maintenance exam (HME) since 2002, were included.
Results
A total of 8,262 patients who met the age criteria were identified: 3,255 (39.4 %) males and 5,007 (60.6 %) females. Of the 3,255 male patients, 342 patients had their PCP at our UBC and had at least one HME; of those, 63 patients had DXA performed for an osteoporosis screening rate of 18.4 %. Of the 5,007 female patients, 668 patients had their PCP at our UBC and had at least one HME; of those, 402 patients had DXA performed for an osteoporosis screening rate of 60 %.
Conclusion
Males are screened less frequently although they have a comparable prevalence of osteoporosis.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11657-012-0113-0/MediaObjects/11657_2012_113_Fig1_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11657-012-0113-0/MediaObjects/11657_2012_113_Fig2_HTML.gif)
References
Looker AC, Orwoll ES, Johnston CC Jr, Lindsay RL, Wahner HW, Dunn WL (1997) Prevalence of low femoral bone density in older U.S. adults from NHANES III. J Bone Miner Res 12:1761–1768
Burge R, Dawson-Hughes B, Solomon DH, Wong JB, King A, Tosteson A (2007) Incidence and economic burden of osteoporosis-related fractures in the United States, 2005–2025. J Bone Miner Res 22(3):465–475
Johnell O, Kanis JA (2006) An estimate of the worldwide prevalence and disability associated with osteoporotic fractures. Osteoporos Int 17(12):1726–1733
Forsén L, Sogaard AJ, Meyer HE, Edna T, Kopjar B (1999) Survival after hip fracture: short- and long-term excess mortality according to age and gender. Osteoporos Int 10:73–78
Sernbo I, Johnell O (1993) Consequences of a hip fracture: a prospective study over 1 year. Osteoporos Int 3:148–153
Adams AL, Shi J, Takayanagi M, Dell RM, Funahashi TT, Jacobsen SJ (2012) Ten-year hip fracture incidence rate trends in a large California population, 1997–2006. Osteoporos Int. doi: 10.1007/s00198-012-1938-5
Adler RA (2006) The need for increasing awareness of osteoporosis in men. Clin Cornerstone 8:S7–S13
Cohen K, Maier D (2008) Osteoporosis: evaluation of screening patterns in a primary-care group practice. J Clin Densitom 11(4):498–502
Watts NB, Adler RA, Bilezikian JP, Drake MT, Eastell R, Orwoll ES, Finkelstein JS (2012) Osteoporosis in men: an endocrine society clinical practice guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 97(6):1802–1822
Duyvendak M, Naunton M, Atthobari J, van den Berg PB, Brouwers JR (2007) Corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis prevention: longitudinal practice patterns in The Netherlands 2001–2005. Osteoporos Int 18(10):1429–1433
Jennifer Elston L, Deneil K, Peterson EL, McCarthy BD, Weiss TW, Ya-Ting C, Muma BK (2007) Improving osteoporosis screening: results from a randomized cluster trial. J Gen Intern Med 22(3):346–351
Lyles KW, Colón-Emeric CS, Magaziner JS, Adachi JD, Pieper CF, Mautalen C, Hyldstrup L, Recknor C, Nordsletten L, Moore KA, Lavecchia C, Zhang J, Mesenbrink P, Hodgson PK, Abrams K, Orloff JJ, Horowitz Z, Eriksen EF, Boonen S (2007) Zoledronic acid and clinical fractures and mortality after hip fracture. N Engl J Med 357(18):1799–1809
Papaioannou A, Kennedy CC, Cranney A, Hawker G, Brown JP, Kaiser SM, Leslie WD, O’Brien CJ, Sawka AM, Khan A, Siminoski K, Tarulli G, Webster D, McGowan J, Adachi JD (2009) Risk factors for low BMD in healthy men age 50 years or older: a systematic review. Osteoporos Int 20:507–518
Conflicts of interest
None.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alswat, K., Adler, S.M. Gender differences in osteoporosis screening: retrospective analysis. Arch Osteoporos 7, 311–313 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11657-012-0113-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11657-012-0113-0