Evaluation of the Relationships Between Bone Mineral Density and Anthropometric Measurements in Women with Postmenopausal Osteoporosis

Objective: There are various factors that affect bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between anthropometric characteristics and BMD in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO). Materials and Methods: Demographic features of the participants including age, menopause age, smoking habits, comorbidities, educational and marital status were recorded. Anthropometric characteristics such as height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist -to -hip ratio (WHR), digit ratio of dominant hand (2D:4D), skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), hand and thigh circumferences were measured. In addition to L1 -L4, femur neck (FN), femur total (FT) T -scores, serum calcium and 25(OH) vitamin D levels were noted. Results: This study included a total of 181 women with PMO (mean age 62.78 +/- 7.81 years, menopause age 45.69 +/- 5.58 years and BMI 27.24 +/- 4.87 kg/m 2 ). 64.6% of the participants had at least one systemic disease and 71.8% were non-smokers. The mean values of serum calcium and 25(OH) vitamin D were 9.71 +/- 0.73 mg/dL and 26.22 +/- 15.34 ng/mL, respectively. Weight and BMI showed significant positive correlations with T -scores at L1 -L4 total, FN and FT. While thigh circumference and SMI significantly correlated with T -scores at FN and FT, hand circumference only correlated with T -score at FN. On the other hand, no correlations were found between T -scores and other anthropometric measurements (height, WHR, 2D:4D). Conclusion: These findings have shown that the patients with lower weight and BMI have lower T -scores at lumbar spine and femur. Additionally, thigh circumference and SMI correlated positively with femur T -scores. Further studies are warranted to reveal the role of these anthropometric measurements in determining the risk of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.