Abstract

ESTIMATION OF OSTEOPOROSIS RISK AMONG WOMEN ATTENDING ORTHOPAEDIC CLINICS IN SOUTH INDIA

Vamsi Krishna.B*, Seeba Zachariah, Dr.Mohanraj Rathinevelu,Dr. Y. Padmanabha Reddy

ABSTRACT

The Study entitled “Estimation of osteoporosis risk among women attending orthopaedic clinics in South India was designed to estimate the risk of osteoporosis in women, assessment of adherence and awareness on treatment of hip fracture patients & to counsel the patients for improving the health outcomes. The prospective observational epidemiological study for six months duration was carried out in women over 45 years of age. Discussion on risk estimation for osteoporosis through SCORE questionnaire was done in patients visiting orthopaedic clinics in Anantapur, Andhrapradesh. From the score of risk estimation questionnaire for all the patients (500) it was found that females are at more risk for developing osteoporosis with increasing age and statistically significant P-value (0.0429) was found between age groups 65-69 years. Among the study populations 56% of the patients were having R.A and 27% of the patients had broken bones. 56.3% of the female with increasing age were having risk for developing osteoporosis. This can be attributed to the factors like poor knowledge regarding disease, life style modifications, fall reduction and medication adherence. Failure to receive estrogen therapy due to low socio-economic status is the other confounding factor for developing osteoporosis. In conclusion, improving patient’s knowledge through counseling regarding disease and medication adherence can significantly decrease the risk for osteoporosis. Improvement in medication adherence was found in 80% of the inpatients after counseling.

Keywords: Risk for osteoporosis, SCORE, Questionnaire, Estrogen therapy.