BONE-MINERAL DENSITY-MEASUREMENTS OF DISTAL RADIUS IN SAUDI-ARABIAN FEMALES

A survey using Gammadensit x-ray bone mineralometer was conducted on 1 50 Saudi Arabian postmenopausal (PM) females and on another group of 1 50 females of menstruating age of around 30 years as the group with pe ak bone mass (PBM). The minimum age in the PM group was 44 years and m aximum was 71 years (mean 54.08 years), SD +/- 7.02, whereas for the P BM group, the mean age was 29.15 years (range 24 to 33). The bone mine ral density (BMD) for the PM group was 0.310 g/cm(2) minimum and the m aximum was 0.546 g/cm(2) (mean 0.440 g/cm(2)). In the PBM group, the m ean BMD was 0.660 g/cm(2). Compared to Western females, the PM group B MD was 21% lower and the Saudi PBM group was 29% higher than in Wester n females of the same age and ses. The BMD or rural Saudi females was 0.479 g/cm(2) as compared to 0.359 g/cm(2) in the urban population. In females who had borne more than 10 children, the BMD was 0.483 g/cm(2 ), and was 0.354 g/cm(2) in females who had fewer than five children. There was no statistical significance in rural versus urban and less t han or equal to 5 versus greater than or equal to 10 children (P value was < 0.18 and < 0.13). This study concludes that BMD of the PM Saudi females is lower than that of the Western females of the same age, ma king them more osteoporotic with a higher risk of osteoporotic-related fractures.