Prevalence of osteoporosis in Iran: A meta-analysis

Background: Several studies have investigated the prevalence of osteoporosis among general population in several parts of Iran. However, the results have been inconsistent. This meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the overall prevalence of osteoporosis. Materials and Methods: International and national electronic databases were searched until April 2012, including Web of Knowledge, Medline, Scopus, Ovid, ScienceDirect, Science Information Database, IranMedex, MagIran, as well the relevant conference databases. The reference lists of included studies were screened as well. The cross-sectional studies addressing the prevalence of osteoporosis among Iranian general population were retrieved irrespective of age and sex. Bone mineral density (BMD) based on T-score was classified as follows: (a) normal (T-score ≥−1); (b) osteopenia (–2.5SD < T-score <−1SD); (c) osteoporosis (T-score ≤–2.5). Study quality was assessed using the recommended checklist of STROBE. Results: Of 2598 retrieved studies, 31 studies comprising 34,814 people was used for meta-analysis. The overall prevalence of osteoporosis in lumbar spine was 0.17 (95% CI: 0.13, 0.20) and that of osteopenia was 0.35 (95% CI: 0.30, 0.39). The prevalence was higher in older age groups, in women, and in the northern regions of the country, with an increasing trend in recent years. Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicated that osteoporosis and osteopenia are common problems among Iranian population older than 30 years. Furthermore, increasing trend of the diseases in recent years is promising a critical public health problem in Iran in the near future. However, due to the heterogeneity between the studies’ results, further evidence based on a national survey is needed to estimate the exact prevalence of the diseases in the country.