Osteoporosis in male patients: epidemiology, clinical aspects and DEXA Scan assessment

Introduction. Osteoporosis in male patients affects a significant number of the overall population and is the cause of a relevant percentage of fragility fractures. Our aim: to describe the epidemiology, clinical aspects and DEXA Scan assessment and results of osteoporosis in male patients at one single specialist center. Materials and methods. Retrospective study. All DEXA Scans performed at one single specialist center within the set time-frame of one year were selected. We sub-selected scans belonging to male patients older than 18 years. The Z-score was for patients with an age between 18 and 50. A standard deviation bigger than -2.5 was considered as diagnosis of osteoporosis for the first group, while a standard deviation bigger than -2.0 and history of osteoporotic fracture was again considered as diagnosis of osteoporosis in the second group. Results. Among the overall 4369 performed scans, 376 (8.6%) matched the including criteria. Among those, 129 (of which 78% aged older than 50) had abnormal scan results. Mean age: 60 +/- 13. BMI: 25,5 +/- 2,8 kg/m(2). 61 patients were diagnosed with osteoporosis according to scan results and the rest sustained an osteoporotic fracture. Densitometric osteoporosis: 49% spine, 33% hip, 18% spine and hip. 30 of the 61 patients had history of osteoporotic fracture of the spine, hip, wrist or other sites. 21% of these 30 patients was older than 50. Conclusions. Osteoporosis in males must be considered a serious disease. 1 in 6 of the included patients had diagnosis of osteoporosis. We would like to highlight the importance of osteoporosis in males and to improve early diagnosis, prevention and treatments, especially among high risk patients.