title: Prevalence of osteoporosis in Iran: A meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several studies have investigated the prevalence of osteoporosis among general population in several parts of Iran. However, the results have been inconsistent. This meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the overall prevalence of osteoporosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  International and national electronic databases were searched until April 2012, including Web of Knowledge, Medline, Scopus, Ovid, ScienceDirect, Science Information Database, IranMedex, MagIran, as well the relevant conference databases. The reference lists of included studies were screened as well. The cross-sectional studies addressing the prevalence of osteoporosis among Iranian general population were retrieved irrespective of age and sex. Bone mineral density (BMD) based on T-score was classified as follows: (a) normal (T-score ≥-1); (b) osteopenia (-2.5SD < T-score <-1SD); (c) osteoporosis (T-score ≤-2.5). Study quality was assessed using the recommended checklist of STROBE.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 2598 retrieved studies, 31 studies comprising 34,814 people was used for meta-analysis. The overall prevalence of osteoporosis in lumbar spine was 0.17 (95% CI: 0.13, 0.20) and that of osteopenia was 0.35 (95% CI: 0.30, 0.39). The prevalence was higher in older age groups, in women, and in the northern regions of the country, with an increasing trend in recent years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis indicated that osteoporosis and osteopenia are common problems among Iranian population older than 30 years. Furthermore, increasing trend of the diseases in recent years is promising a critical public health problem in Iran in the near future. However, due to the heterogeneity between the studies' results, further evidence based on a national survey is needed to estimate the exact prevalence of the diseases in the country.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Amin Doosti
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Irani
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Modeling of Noncommunicable Diseases, Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Jalal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poorolajal
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khalilian
authors.affiliation: Kurdistan Research Center for Social Determinants of Health, School of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Nader
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Esmailnasab
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheraghi
keywords: Iran; meta-analysis; osteopenia; osteoporosis; prevalence; systematic review