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Article Type

Article

Abstract

Background: Osteoporosis is a disease that makes bones brittle and vulnerable to injury, which has become a major global health issue. However, relevant clinical data on Iraqi patients have long been very limited, and there has always been a lack of sufficient research support for the local incidence, diagnosis, and treatment status of the disease. This study aimed to analyze the detection rate of osteoporosis via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry bone density scans (DEXA scan) at Baqubah Teaching Hospital and to analyze the correlation between T- and Z-scores, which are used to assess bone health, and patients' basic information including age, gender, height, and weight.
Patients and methods: The study examined 59 patients—comprising 54 women and 5 men—who underwent DEXA scans between October and December 2024. Clinical assessments focused on the lumbar spine and femur to determine T-scores and Z-scores based on World Health Organization standards. The female cohort had a mean age of 62.0 years, while the male cohort averaged 59.8 years.
Result: 59 patients were enrolled in the study: 54 women, 46 of whom were postmenopausal, and 5 men; the mean age of the female patients was 62.0 years, and the mean age of the male patients was 59.8 years. The mean T-score of all patients was –3.69, and the mean Z-score was –2.1. Among the patients who underwent this scan, there were almost no individuals with completely healthy bone conditions. Further correlation analysis showed that patients with higher body weight had better T- and Z-scores related to bone mineral density, indicating better bone health status, while the correlation between height and these outcomes was very weak, with almost no discernible impact. Older patients had better bone mineral density values. Looking at the numerical differences between genders, the T-scores of male and female patients were similar, with no significant differences, but the Z-scores of male patients were much lower than those of female patients.
Conclusion: DEXA scanning identified a high burden of low bone mineral density among patients referred to Baqubah Teaching Hospital, most likely reflecting the referral-based nature of the sample. The unexpected age- and gender-related patterns warrant confirmation in larger, prospective, multicenter studies.

Keywords

DEXA, T-score, Z-score, Osteoporosis, Bone swmineral density, Iraq

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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