Vol. 3, Issue 4, Part B (2017)

Abstract
Osteoporosis is one of the most prevalent of the degenerative diseases and now recognized as a silent epidemic disorder. With increasing longevity of the Indian population, it is now being realized that, as in the West, osteoporotic fractures are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The lower bone densities existing in the women need to be screened out as earlier as possible at the community level. However, the facility of Bone Mineral Density (BMD) is not always available and usually accompanied by relatively higher costs and in such situations, questionnaire based tools are much beneficial for earlier risk assessment. The Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool for Asians (OSTA) index is a simple tool based on age and body weight. Calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (QUS) is another simple and low-cost instrument used to prescreen osteoporotic subjects. Based on this background, the present study focused on prediction of osteoporosis risk and to compare against QUS- BMD measured at calcareous bone. The research was carried out in South Indian rural women aged 35 to 74 years who voluntarily participated in BMD campaigns. The study was analyzed in four different age groups Viz., 35-44 years (n=60), 45-54 years (n=80), 55-64 years (n=80) and 65-74 years (n=40) to evaluate changes in risk levels with the advancing age. The results well demonstrated a definite correlation between different levels of OSTA score and BMD classification of low and poor bone mass conditions of osteopenia and osteoporosis. Hence it can be inferred that OSTA found to be better prescreening tool to predict osteoporosis risk earlier especially among Asian postmenopausal women.