The prevalence of osteopenic syndrome in students of secondary schools

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.

1. WHO. Adolescents: health risks and solutions. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescents-health-risks-and-solutions

2. Setko A.G., Bulycheva E.V., Setko N.P. Peculiarities of prenosological changes in mental and physical health of students from generation Z. Analiz riska zdorov’yu. 2019; (4): 158–64. https://doi.org/10.21668/health.risk/2019.4.17.eng

3. Bogdanova A.V., Arkhipova N.N., Mal’tsev S.V. Estimation of risk factors of decrease in mineral density of the bone at schoolchild of Kazan. Prakticheskaya meditsina. 2009; (7): 111–3. (in Russian)

4. WHO. Child and adolescent health in Europe. 2018; 255.

5. Khotim O.A., Sychevskiy L.Z., Anosov V.S. Osteopenia as a risk factor of development and progression of scoliosis in children. Zhurnal Grodnenskogo gosudarstvennogo meditsinskogo universiteta. 2017; 15(2): 176–80. (in Russian)

6. Mal’tsev S.V., Mansurova G.Sh. Reduced bone mineral density in children and adolescents: causes, incidence and treatment. Voprosy sovremennoy pediatrii. 2015; 14(5): 573–8. https://doi.org/10.15690/vsp.v14i5.1442 (in Russian)

7. Ministry of Health Statistical Digest, 2017. Available at: https://www.rosminzdrav.ru/ministry/61/22/stranitsa-979/statisticheskie-i-informatsionnye-materialy/statisticheskiy-sbornik-2017-god (in Russian)

8. Marushko Yu.V., Volokha T.I., Asonov A.O. Ultrasound densitometry (axial dimension) in the diagnosis of osteopenia syndrome in children with various somatic pathology. Sovremennaya pediatriya. 2016; (1): 54–8. (in Russian)

9. Vasil’ev V.V., Perekusikhin M.V. Hygienic assessment of measures aimed at risks reduction and health preservation for children in secondary schools. Analiz riska zdorov’yu. 2018; (3): 128–35. https://doi.org/10.21668/health.risk/2018.3.14.eng

10. Krutikova N.Yu., Vinogradova A.G., Yudenkova O.A., Davydenkova A.S. History of diagnostics implementation for identification of impaired bone density. estnik Smolenskoy gosudarstvennoy meditsinskoy akademii. 2018; 17(4): 146–50. (in Russian)

11. Khramtsov P.I. Тhe effectiveness of the prevention and correction of violations of the functional state of the musculoskeletal system from junior schoolchildren in physical education. Zdorov’e naseleniya i sreda obitaniya. 2017; (8): 44–5. https://doi.org/10.35627/2219-5238/2017-293-8-44-45 (in Russian)

12. Rizzoli R., Bianchi M.L., Garabédian M., McKay H.A., Moreno L.A. Maximizing bone mineral mass gain during growth for the prevention of fractures in the adolescents and the elderly. Bone. 2010; 46(2): 294–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2009.10.005

13. Sadovaya T.N., Tsytsorina I.A. Screening of spinal deformations in children as component of public health protection. Politravma. 2011; (3): 23–8. (in Russian)

14. Madieva M.R., Raisov D.T., Kuanysheva A.G., Rakhimbekov A.V., Bayzakova M.N. History of development and relevant issues of computer tomography. Nauka i zdravookhranenie. 2019; 4: 100–5. (in Russian)

15. Świat A., Wasilewska A., Bachniak I., Fyderek K. Metabolic bone disease in children with chronic gastrointestinal tract condition. Pol. Merkur. Lekarski. 2016; 41(241): 43–6.

16. Chang C.Y., Rosenthal D.I., Mitchell D.M., Handa A., Kattapuram S.V., Huang A.J. Imaging findings of metabolic bone disease. Radiographics. 2016; 36(6): 1871–87. https://doi.org/10.1148/rg.2016160004

17. Saraff V., Högler W. ENDOCRINOLOGY AND ADOLESCENCE: Osteoporosis in children: diagnosis and management. Eur. J. Endocrinol. 2015; 173(6): 185–97. https://doi.org/10.1530/eje-14-0865

18. Kuptsova T., Kislov A., Strukov V., Elistratov D., Balykova L., Maksimova M., et al. Steo-vit d3 in the treatment of children with recurrent bone fractures in osteoporosis. Vrach. 2016; (1): 46–7. (in Russian)

19. Falameeva O.V., Rzaev M.M., Khrapova Yu.V., Kulyaev E.A., Grafov A.V. Investigation of osteoporosis risk factors and formation of risk groups. Meditsina i obrazovanie v Sibiri. 2011; (6): 24. (in Russian)

20. Strukov V.I., Elistratov D.G., Shcherbakova Yu.G., Kuptsova A.T., Galeeva R.T., Radchenko L.G., et al. Prevention of repeated fractures in children and teenagers with low bone mineral density. Lechashchiy vrach. 2015; (6): 77. (in Russian)

21. Akhmetzhanova D.O., Ivanova R.L., Lobanov Yu.F. Complex correction of pathogenesis mechanisms of undifferentiated connective tissue dysplasia and osteopenic syndrome in children. Meditsina (Almaty). 2018; (3): 146–52. (in Russian)

22. Mal’tsev S.V., Mansurova G.Sh., Kolesnichenko T.V., Zotov N.A. Bone mineral density in children in different age periods. Prakticheskaya meditsina. 2013; (6): 106–8. (in Russian)

23. Glantz S.A. Primer of Biostatistics. New-York: McGraw-Hill; 1994.

24. Devyatkova G.I., Lebedev A.A., Shchepetkova E.R. Prevalence of the osteopenichesky syndrome in Perm region. Sovremennye problemy nauki i obrazovaniya. 2015; (6): 257. (in Russian)

25. Bailley D.A., Martin A.D., McKay H.A., Whiting S., Mirwald R., et al. Calcium accretion in girls and boys during puberty: a longitudinal analysis. J. Bone Miner. Res. 2000; 15(11): 2245–50. https://doi.org/10.1359/jbmr.2000.15.11.2245