Secondary osteoporosis in women. A retrospective analysis.

Secondary osteoporosis comprises a minority of all osteoporosis cases. In this study we summarize the causes of secondary osteoporosis we encountered in patients currently on follow-up in our osteoporosis outpatient clinic. A total of 1015 female patients are involved in the study. Recorded data of the patients are evaluated retrospectively. Patients with spine bone mineral density (BMD) 2.5 standard deviation below a reference range established using our own data obtained from a Turkish population of normal healthy women using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (T score less than -2.5) were accepted as having osteoporosis. We detected osteoporosis in 384 (38%) of the female patients. A secondary cause for osteoporosis has been found in 33 (8.6%) of the 384 osteoporotic patients. Thyrotoxicosis (n=10), parathyroid adenoma (n=10), and glucocorticoid administration (n=7) constituted 82% of the causes of osteoporosis. The data obtained in our study indicate that appropriate search for secondary causes of osteoporosis is essential because different modalities are needed for treatment.