Body Composition and Osteoporosis in Elderly Women

Abstract

Objectives: To study body composition in elderly osteoporotic women to determine the relationship of body weight, body fat mass and lean mass to bone mineral density (BMD), and to investigate the association between one-leg balance, osteoporosis and sarcopenia. Design and Setting: A cross-sectional study of a community-based population in Toulouse, France. Methods: For each participant, whole body composition and BMD were estimated using a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scanner. We investigated balance using a one-leg balance test. Participants: 129 healthy women aged 75–89 years, volunteers, ambulatory and living at home. Results: Total fat mass and appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) were significantly lower in osteoporotic women than in the age- and sex-matched non-osteoporotic controls [18.7 ± 4.6 vs. 22.2 ± 6.6 for total fat mass (p < 0.01); 13.1 ± 1.6 vs. 13.8 ± 2.2 for ASM (p < 0.05)]. We did not find a positive association between osteoporosis and sarcopenia (OR = 0.75, CI 0.3–1.84), osteoporosis and one-leg balance (OR = 1.27, CI 0.51–3.17), or sarcopenia and one-leg balance (OR = 1.31, CI 0.52–3.36). There were significant positive correlations between BMD in all areas and body measurements (weight, fat mass, lean tissue mass), but fat mass accounted for more of the variance in total body and femoral BMD than lean tissue mass. Total fat mass alone, in a multivariate model, was correlated with whole body BMD, whereas femoral BMD was associated with both fat mass and lean tissue mass. Conclusion: Higher values of fat mass and lean tissue mass may have a protective effect on femoral bone density. Sarcopenia and osteoporosis are not necessarily linked with balance.

Regional fat, weight and osteoporosis in elderly women in Egypt

“…In addition, BMD had a statistically significant positive correlation with body weight and BMI. Furthermore, the results of the current study revealed that BMD was significantly positively correlated with regional fat percentage (higher values of fat mass may have a protective effect on bone density [5]). However, when logistic regression analysis was done, regional fat failed to show an independent effect on low BMD, while total body weight was protective against low BMD.…”

“…Women with more body fat have lower rates of bone resorption (an independent predictor of fracture) during menopause than women with less body fat [3]. In women, bone mineral status is much more closely associated with total body fat [4] and in a multivariate model total fat mass alone was correlated with whole body BMD [5].…”

Association between VDR and ESR1 gene polymorphisms with bone and obesity phenotypes in Chinese male nuclear families

“…In our sample, the heritability estimates for peak BMD in the spine, femoral neck, and hip are 0.565, 0.702, and 0.693, respectively. Second, we have now learned that lean mass and fat mass may be important determinants of the BMD [45,46] . Many previous studies used BMD as a surrogate marker of bone strength, which did not take into account determinants of bone strength (eg, fat mass, lean mass and PFM) other than bone mass.…”

Bone Mass in Anorexia Nervosa and Thin Postmenopausal Women-Related Secondary Amenorrhea

“…Moreover, a total body fat mass assessed by DXA in postmenopausal women could predict BMD at the spine and at the hip. The decreased fat mass is a risk factor for osteoporotic fractures, because 11% to 15% of patients with fragility fractures showed low fat mass, whereas the lean body mass in the same patients remained the same compared to controls; in women aged more than 75 years, a protective effect of body weight and fat mass on BMD at several skeletal sites was positively correlated with the weight and the fat mass (Gillette-Guyonnet et al, 2000). A swedish study, on the other hand, compared urban and rural populations and found that the incidence of osteoporotic fractures was higher only in a group of women more than 70 years old with reduced muscle mass, which highlighted the importance of the muscle mass as a primary agent influencing the bone mass changes and the fracture risk in elderly women (Elmstahl et al, 1993).…”

“…It was concluded that the lean body mass has a protective effect on BMD at the femoral neck (Gillette-Guyonnet et al, 2000). So far, it is unclear whether lean mass regulates the bone mass in the postmenopausal women.…”