The prevalence of osteopenic syndrome in students of secondary schools

Abstract

Introduction. Osteopenic syndrome occupies one of the leading places among school-related pathology. Ultrasonic osteodensitometry is a non-invasive, low-cost method of early diagnosis of osteopenic conditions without specialized requirements. Material and methods. To identify the prevalence of osteopenic syndrome in schoolchildren, bone mineral density (BMD) was evaluated by ultrasound osteodensitometry. The study involved 84 boys and 85 girls aged from 7 to 17 years. Students were divided into six observation groups by gender and age. A survey of parents was carried out, and the social and economic characteristics of children’s lives were clarified. Given the presence or absence of signs of osteopenic syndrome according to the osteodensitometric study, a comparative assessment of the structure of concomitant pathology was carried out. Results. The prevalence of osteopenic syndrome among secondary schools students ranged from 28 to 65, depending on the students’ age and gender. In the junior schoolchildren, the proportion of boys with osteopenia was 2 times less than the proportion of girls (31.8 and 60%, p = 0.01). In the middle-grade students the frequency of osteopenia was comparable (65 and 53.3%, p = 0.2 ). Among high school students it was 2 times more common in young men (60 versus 28%, p = 0.02). In the structure of osteopenic syndrome, osteopenia of the first degree principally predominated. In children with ultrasonic signs of osteopenia, deforming dorsopathy was diagnosed 1.4 times more often (62 and 43.8%, p = 0.04), myopia - 2 times (26.2 and 13.5%, p = 0 04), functional dyspepsia - 1.6 times (42.4 against 25.8%, p = 0.02), a tendency to a more frequent prevalence of short stature (8.8 against 2.2%, p = 0, 06) and protein-energy deficiency (13.7 versus 5.6%, p = 0.07). Conclusion. The incidence of osteopenia among schoolchildren reaches 65%. The wider use of ultrasound osteodensitometry is necessary to timely determine BMD in students, given the non-specific manifestation of osteopenic syndrome.