Objectives: The study aimed to determine the association between smoking, bone mineral density (BMD), and fragility fractures in a cohort of Pakistani males aged > 50 years and postmenopausal females.
Methodology: This was a cross-sectional survey carried out at Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (AFIRM), Rawalpindi from Jan 2010 to Jan 2011. Through non-probability purposive sampling, we included male patients of age ≥ 50 years and postmenopausal women. All subjects were submitted to dual energy X-Ray absorptiometery at lumbar spine (L2→ L4) and at both femoral by Hologic Discovery-A machine . The lowest BMD was noted and expressed in the form of T-score.Using SPSS V 20, descriptive statistics were calculated for the various variables. Independent samples t-test was used to determine the significance of difference between mean T-score in between smokers and non-smokers. Association between smoking and the risk of fracture was carried out using Fisher exact test. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Out of a total of 328 patients, 142 (43.3%) were male (mean age 64 ± 8, range: 50 - 82 years) and 186 (56.7%) were female (mean age 61 ± 8, range: 43 - 92 years). Sixteen (8.6%) females and 52 (36.6%) males were smokers. In males, the mean T-score was -1.6 ± 1.3 in non-smokers and -1.9 ± 1.2 in smokers (p=0.17). Two of the non-smokers and nine of the smokers had a fracture. (p=0.002). In females, the mean T-score was -2.9 ± 1.9 in smokers and -2.3 ± 1.4 in non-smokers (p=0.23). Twelve of the non-smokers and 15 smokers had a fracture. (p
Key words: Bone mineral density, osteoporosis, Pakistan, post-menopausal women, smoking
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