No abstract

Bone mineral density (BMD) measurements are frequently performed repeatedly for each patient. Subsequent BMD measurements allow reproducibility to be assessed. Previous studies have suggested that reproducibility may be influenced by age and clinical status. The purpose of the study was to examine the reproducibility of BMD by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and to investigate the practical value of different measures of reproducibility in three distinct groups of subjects: healthy young volunteers, postmenopausal women and patients with chronic rheumatic diseases. Two hundred twenty-two subjects underwent two subsequent BMD measurements of the spine and hip. There were 60 young healthy subjects, 102 postmenopausal women and 60 patients with chronic rheumatic diseases (33 rheumatoid arthritis, 10 ankylosing spondylitis and 10 other systemic diseases). Forty-five patients (75%) among the third group were receiving corticosteroids. Reproducibility was expressed as the smallest detectable difference (SDD), coefficient of variation (CV), least significant change (LSC) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Sources of variation were investigated by linear regression analysis. The median interval between measurements was 0 days (range 0-7). The mean difference (SD) between the measurements (g/cm2) was -0.0001 (+/-0.003) and -0.0004 (+/-0.002) at L1-L4 and the total hip, respectively. At L1-L4 and the total hip, SDD (g/cm2) was +/-0.04 and +/-0.02, CV (%) was 2.02 and 1.29, and LSC (%) 5.60 and 3.56, respectively. The ICC at the spine and hip was 0.99 and 0.99, respectively. Only a minimal difference existed between the groups. Reproducibility in the three groups studied was good. In a repeated DXA scan, a BMD change, the least significant change (LSC) or the SDD should be regarded as significant. Use of the SDD is preferable to use of the CV and LSC because of its independence from BMD and its expression in absolute units. Expressed as SDD, a BMD change of at least +/-0.04 g/cm2 at L1-L4 and +/-0.02 g/cm2 at the total hip should be considered significant. This reproducibility seems independent from age and clinical status and improved in the hips by measuring the dual femur.

In France, a participation rate of over 50% can be achieved in colorectal cancer screening by means of a faecal occult blood test. To achieve this, primary care physicians have to play an active part in the programme and the test must be mailed to non-consultants.

Hip fracture has never been studied before, either in Morocco or in the adjacent countries of the south bank of the Mediterranean Sea. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence rate of hip fracture in 2002 in Rabat Province, a large area in the northwest of The Kingdom of Morocco, by the use of register information and medical records collected from the five public hospitals of the region. The hip fracture data were restricted to cervical or trochanteric types. There was a total of 150 hip fractures (83 in women and 67 in men) in the over-50-year-old population in the Province of Rabat during 2002. The age-adjusted 1-year cumulative incidence of hip fracture was 52.1/100,000 [95% confidence interval (CI) 40.9-63.3/100,000] in women and 43.7/100,000 (95% CI 33.3-52.2/100,000) in men. The standardized incidence rate against the 1985 US population was 80.7/100,000 (95% CI 78.5-93.0/100,000) for women and 58.5/100,000 (95% CI 47.9-68.1/100,000) for men. The mean (standard deviation) age of patients with a hip fracture was 70.7 (9.4) years for women and 70.4 (10.0) years for men. The overall female-to-male ratio of hip fracture was 1.19 for age-adjusted hip fracture incidence and 1.30 for standardized incidence. A marked increase in incidence rate was found for both men and women with increasing age, becoming exponential after the age of 50 years. The mean age for hip fracture was 70.7 (9.4) years in women and 70.4 (10.0) years in men (P > 0.05). Women had a cervical-to-trochanteric ratio of 0.97 compared to men, at 1.03. The characteristics of hip fractures described in this study suggest that fragility fractures occur in North Africa, although substantially less frequently than in most European, North American and Asian countries but more frequently than sub-Saharan African countries, in agreement with the north-south gradient observed in the epidemiology of osteoporosis. The low incidence of hip fragility fracture rate is most likely the result of reduced longevity in Morocco.

Mental disorders are common in the Moroccan general population, particularly mood and anxiety disorders.