BONE-MINERAL DENSITY AND RISK-FACTORS FOR OSTEOPOROSIS - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY OF 1600 PERIMENOPAUSAL WOMEN

Population-based epidemiological studies on osteoporosis are few. Our study evaluated the effects of menopause and certain putative behavior al risk factors on bone mineral density (BMD). Spinal and femoral neck BMD were measured with dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) from 1600 peri menopausal women aged 48-59 years (mean 53.2 years) with no diseases o r medications known to affect bone metabolism. These women were a sele cted sample of the Kuopio Osteoporosis Risk Factor and Prevention Stud y population (n = 14,220). There was a wide variation of BMD among per imenopausal women. Menopause had a major effect on BMD. Postmenopausal women had significantly lower BMD in both spine (-6.2%) and femoral n eck (-3.9%) as compared with premenopausal women. Multiple regression analysis showed that weight, menopausal status, age, and grip strength were significant independent predictors of both spinal and femoral BM D. Additionally, physical activity was found to be a significant predi ctor of femoral BMD, and alcohol consumption was a significant predict or of spinal BMD. However, current anthropometric and lifestyle factor s explained only 18.7-25.4% of the variability of BMD. Therefore, the estimation of the risk factor status at menopause is not an adequate s ubstitute for bone densitometry. However, our results may in part help clinicians to identify the risk groups at which to direct bone densit y measurements .