Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology
Volume 22, Issue 4 , Pages 693-708, August 2008

Osteoporosis in developing countries

  • Rohini Handa, MD, DNB, FAMS, FICP, FACR, FRCP (Glasgow) (Professor of Medicine)

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +91 11 2659 4993; Fax: +91 11 2658 8663.
  • Asgar Ali Kalla, MBChB (UCT), FCP (SA), FRCP (Lon), MD (UCT) (Professor of Rheumatology)
  • Ghassan Maalouf, MD (Professor of Clinical Orthopaedics Surgery, and Chairman of the Musculo-Skeletal Program)

Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology Service, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Lebanese American University (LAU), Beirut, Lebanon

Osteoporosis poses a huge challenge in developing countries due to demographic transition and aging of the population coupled with limited availability of resources. The exact disease burden is difficult to quantify because of the paucity of data. Ethnicity affects bone density as well as fracture risk. Population-specific normative data for bone density are lacking in large parts of the world. Vitamin D deficiency is common even in sunny countries. The WHO has developed an algorithm for estimation of 10-year fracture risk which may be used even in the absence of bone mineral density.

Key words: osteoporosis, fracture, vitamin D, fracture risk, developing countries, Asia, Africa, Middle East, Latin America

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PII: S1521-6942(08)00050-8

doi:10.1016/j.berh.2008.04.002

Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology
Volume 22, Issue 4 , Pages 693-708, August 2008

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