Prevalence of osteoporosis in Australian women - Geelong Osteoporosis study

To evaluate the prevalence of osteoporosis at various sites among Australia n women, cross-sectional bone mineral density (BMD) data for adult females was obtained from an age-stratified population-based sample (n = 1494; 20-9 4 yr) drawn at random from the Barwon Statistical Division, a population ch aracteristic of Australia. Age- and weight- (and for three sites, height) m atched reference ranges for BMD at the lumbar spine, proximal femur, forear m, and total body were developed using regression techniques. The cutoff BM D level for osteoporosis at the PA spine was 0.917 g/cm(2) and 0.713 g/cm(2 ) at the femoral neck according to the World Health Organization (WHO) guid elines. The upper cutoff level for osteopenia was 1.128 g/cm(2) at the PA s pine and 0.913 g/cm(2) for the femoral neck. The proportion of Australian w omen categorized as having osteoporosis at the PA spine, femoral neck, or m idforearm ranged from 0.9% among those aged 40-44 yr to 87.0% for those old er than 79 yr. This study provides reference data representative of the Aus tralian female population. A large proportion of elderly,Australian women h as osteoporosis according to the WHO guidelines.