Eun Young Choi

Department of Family Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea


Background: To investigate the relationship between body composition and bone mineral density (BMD) in preand post-menopausal women in Korea.
Methods: The data of 4,334 pre- and post-menopausal women older than 20 years from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2008-2009 were assessed. BMD and body composition were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. All analyses except stepwise multiple linear regression analysis were performed using the KNHANES sample weights to account for the complex survey design.
Results: After adjusting for confounding variables, lean mass and fat mass were positively correlated with BMD at both L1-4 spine and femur neck in both pre- and post-menopausal women (P<0.001). For the pre-menopausal women, lean mass was the most important determinant of BMD at both sites (R2=0.156 for L1-4 spine BMD, R2=0.168 for femur neck BMD), and the impact of fat mass were minimal. For the post-menopausal women, fat mass had a greater influence on the BMD at L1-4 spine than lean mass (R2=0.016 vs. R2=0.077), but lean mass had a greater impact than fat mass on the BMD at the femur neck (R2=0.077 vs. R2=0.007). After adjusting for confounding variables, post-menopausal osteoporosis increased as both lean mass and fat mass decreased (Ptrend<0.001).
Conclusions: In Korean pre- and post-menopausal women, both lean mass and fat mass had positive correlations with the BMD at both sites and decreased the risk of osteoporosis. Lean mass had a greater influence on premenopausal BMD at both sites and postmenopausal BMD at the femur neck, whereas fat mass had greater influence on post-menopausal BMD at L1-4 spine.
Korean J Health Promot 2013;13(2):52-60

Keywords: Bone mineral density, Body composition, Osteoporosis, Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry