Metabolic characteristics and prevalence of osteoporosis among women in Tae-An area

Understanding the metabolic changes in women is one of the important ways t o prevent and treat osteoporosis. To reveal the metabolic characteristics o f 289 healthy women aged between 35-65 yr in Tae-An, Korea we evaluated the association between bone mass assessed by broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) using quantitative ultrasound 2 (QUS2) and various parameters such a s age, body mass index, serum levels of alkaline phosphatase, calcium, phos phorus, parathyroid hormone, 25(OH)D, and urinary ratios of calcium/creatin ine and deoxypyridinoline (Dpyd)/creatinine, Among the subjects, 3.0% were osteoporotic, and 40.9% were osteopenic. When the subjects were classified according to their years since menopause (YSM) and age, the prevalence of o steoporosis increased along with an increase of YSM and age. Bone turnover markers such as serum alkaline phosphatase and fasting urinary Dpyd/creatin ine were significantly higher in the group with low bone mass than in the n ormal group. In summary, this study shows, by use of biochemical markers of bone turnover and QUS2, the prevalence of osteoporosis in women aged betwe en 35-65 in Tae-An was 3.0% and the risk of low bone mass increased with th e bone turnover markers.