Association between Demographic Factors and Osteoporosis in Urban Iranian Postmenopausal Women

Several demographic factors may be considered as barriers to osteoporosis prevention like high rate of illiteracy and low socioeconomic status in developing countries, there is lack of studies that assess the relationship between socioeconomic status and osteoporosis. This study was a case-control study and it was conducted in two bone mineral density centers in Tehran. Case group includes 163 osteoporotic menopaused women. Controls were selected from same bone mineral density center and matched to the case patients according to age groups. The odds ratios with 95% confidence interval for demographic risk factors of osteoporosis were as follow: illiteracy (no schooling) 2.31(1.06,5.06) in public center, 12.18(1.41,105.57) in private center, illiteracy of husband 3.76(1.04,13.69) in public center, occupation (being a housewife) 2.041(1.19,3.50) in public center. In this study we did not found a strong association between occupation and osteoporosis. High education level was shown as a protective factor of osteoporosis in both centers.