Prevalence of osteoporosis, vertebral fractures and hypovitaminosis D in postmenopausal women living in a rural environment.

Objectives: First, to study the difference between two groups of postmenopausal women living in different population centres (rural vs urban) in the prevalence of osteoporosis, fragility fractures and factors which may influence them: hypovitaminosis D, bone mineral density, coexistence of other diseases which predispose to their appearance; secondly, to observe the influence of low socioeconomic status, categorised as poverty.

Study Design: 1229 postmenopausal women were studied, of whom 390 (31.7%), were living in rural areas and 839 (68.