Prevalence and Distribution of Osteopenia in Chinese Population: A System Review and Meta-Analysis

The number of patients with osteoporosis ranks first in the world in China and as a precursor state of osteoporosis, the number and incidence of osteopenia are much higher than that of osteoporosis. This meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the incidence and distribution of osteopenia in adults in mainland of China over 10 years to provides reference for the early prevention of osteoporosis and policymaking.

Relevant data were extracted from the databases including CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, Web of Science, PubMed, EMBASE, and Medline about the surveys on osteoporosis and bone loss from 2010 to 2021 by searching. The random effects model was adopted for Meta-analysis, and the funnel plot was used to test publication bias.

Forty-seven literatures were included in this study, covering 27 provinces and 38 regions in the mainland of China, with the study of 135,688 cases, showing that the prevalence of osteopenia in adults in the past decade was 28.3%(95% CI 24-33%), aged 40~60 yr old , reaching the highest level. The incidence of osteopenia in males was higher than that in females (P<0.05), without significant difference in south and north China.

There is a large population with osteopenia in China, especially middle-aged population, both men and women should pay attention to osteopenia to delay its further progression.