Osteoporosis-osteopenia and patients’ quality of life: A systematic review

ABSTRACT

Background: Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease that affects over 200 million people worldwide, most of them women, during or after menopause.

Aim: The present study investigates the quality-of-life levels of patients with osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Material and method: A systematic search of the literature was performed in the PubMed and Scopus databases from October 18 to November 1, 2019.

Results: After the application of exclusion and admission criteria, 21 studies remained, in which a total of 18,525 people were evaluated. The majority of research has been done on postmenopausal women. The quality of life of women with osteoporosis and fractures was found to be lower, compared to the quality of life of women with osteoporosis and without fractures, but also compared to the quality of life of healthy women. No definite conclusions can be drawn about the extent to which osteoporosis and osteopenia affect patients' quality of life, with an absence of fractures, as systematic review studies have yielded conflicting findings. The areas of quality of life that seemed to be most affected in osteoporotic and osteopenic patients were mainly pain followed by social function, physical function and mental function.

Conclusions: Osteoporosis in the presence of fractures helps to reduce the quality of life of women suffering from the condition, but, in the absence of fractures, the effect of the condition remains unclear. More studies are needed to investigate the relationship between bone density and quality of life, but also to investigate the quality-of-life levels of men with osteoporosis. It is important for women with osteoporosis to be evaluated early for the risk of fracture, and to receive appropriate interventions.

Keywords: Osteoporosis, osteopenia, quality of life, life of people with osteoporosis, levels of quality of life