Relationship between bone mass density and tensile strength of the skin inwomen

Background Skin and bone may be affected similarly during the climacteric a nd during long-term corticotherapy. Little is known about the correlation b etween the respective alterations in bone mass density (BMD) and tensile st rength of the skin. Materials and methods A total of 100 women aged 19-88 years, receiving, or not, hormone replenishment therapy or systemic corticosteroids, were enroll ed in the study. Tensile strength of the inner forearm skin was measured us ing the suction method operated in both the steep and progressive-force app lication modes. BMD was measured by dual Xray absorptiometry at the hip, fe moral neck and lumbar spine. Results Being heterogeneous, the population of volunteers yielded a wide ra nge of BMD and cutaneous tensile strength values. However, significant corr elations were found between BMD and tensile skin parameters. In particular, a positive correlation was yielded between the biological elasticity of sk in and the BMD of the hip and femoral neck. Conclusion An overall correlation is shown between skin elasticity on a rel atively sun-protected area and cortico-trabecular BMD.