Bone Mineral Density in Hispanic Women: A Review of the Literature with Implications for Promoting Culturally Relevant Osteoporosis Education

Osteoporosis is a disease that primarily affects postmenopausal women of all ethnicities. Demographic projections indicate that the number of Hispanics over age 65 in the U.S. will increase from 2.9 million currently, to 17.5 million in 2050. A majority will be women. Recent research has increased understanding about biocultural correlates of osteoporosis in Hispanic women, and indicates that their risk for the disease is about equal to that of non-Hispanic White (NHW) women. Although Hispanics living in the U.S. share many biological and cultural characteristics with the general population, there are important differences in disease pre-disposition and associated morbidity that present challenges to osteoporosis prevention efforts. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of selected bone density studies that have included Hispanic women, to summarize the findings, and to discuss implications of these findings for osteoporosis prevention education for this population.