Osteopenia and Osteoporosis Is there a difference?

Overview What is Osteopenia? BMD Symptoms of osteopenia Causes of osteopenia Osteoporosis Vitamin D deficiency and osteoporosis Osteoporosis in Saudi Arabia

What is Osteopenia? “Osteo” means bone and “penia” indicates a state of being low in quantity. Osteopenia refers to bone mineral density (BMD) that is lower than normal peak BMD but not low enough to be classified as osteoporosis.

BMD Is a medical term normally referring to the amount of mineral matter per square centimeters of bones.

BMD test Is a measurement of the level of minerals in the bones, which shows how dense and strong they are. If your BMD is low compared to normal peak BMD, you are said to have osteopenia.

A scanner used to measure bone density with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry

BMD results

Symptoms of osteopenia Osteopenia has no symptoms. You notice no pain or change as the bone becomes thinner, although the risk of breaking a bone increases as the bone becomes less dense.

Causes of Osteopenia Eating disorders or metabolism problems. Chemotherapy Steroids Exposure to radiation Lack of exercise Excess consumption of alcohol smoking

Osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by low bone mass and loss of bone tissue that may lead to weak and fragile bones. If you have osteoporosis, you have an increased risk for fractured bones (broken bones), particularly in the hip, spine, and wrist.

Vitamin D and osteoporosis Vitamin D deficiency causes osteoporosis in adults and Rickets in children.

Osteoporosis in Saudi Arabia

(Holick MF, et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2006; 90: 3215-3224) Percentage of Vitamin D Deficiency in Saudi Population (Holick MF, et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2006; 90: 3215-3224)

Vitamin D and calcium deficiency is so widespread in the young, female population of the Kingdom that deficiency levels were as high as 71 percent in the year 2003. Such high rates of calcium deficiency are attributed to the low consumption of milk, yogurt and dairy products. “Food sources of vitamin D are very limited, and vitamin D is found in foods that are not popular in Saudi society. In a study of 483 postmenopausal Saudi women aged 52 to 62 years, it was found that the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis to be 34% and 24%, respectively.

References http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/tc/osteopenia-overview http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.r egcon&contentid=20120405121117 http://www.boneandjointdecade.org/HTML/musconline/imag es/highlights/05MAALOUF_JMNI.pdf http://staff.aub.edu.lb/~webcmop/downloads/ME_audit.pdf