[Prevalence of osteoporosis in the Czech Republic]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia in Czech women and men aged 50 to 75 years.

Bone mineral density was assessed in an age-stratified random sample of 713 women and 429 men from two cities (Prague and Litomĕrice) in the lumbar spine, proximal femur and total body by dual X-ray absorptiometry and in the distal forearm by single X-ray absorptiometry. The proportion of women and men in each age group with bone density below specified levels at any of these skeletal sites was projected to the population structure of the Czech Republic. With advancing age, in women at 55 years and in men at 65 years of age the population with normal bone mineral density becomes smaller, and a greater proportion has osteopenia or osteoporosis. Overall, an estimated 428,000 women and 195,000 men over age 50 have osteoporosis and another 680,000 women and 435,000 men have osteopenia.

The results of this first population-based cross sectional study in the Czech Republic document a high prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia which is comparable with that published for the Netherlands and the United States. The results offer a basis for economical considerations in diagnosis, treatment and consequences of osteoporosis.