Relationship of body composition with prevalence of osteoporosis in central south Chinese postmenopausal women

Summary Objectives To elucidate the relationship between body composition and bone mineral density (BMD) and the prevalence of osteoporosis in central south Chinese postmenopausal women. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 954 healthy central southern Chinese postmenopausal women, aged 50–82. Total body, lumbar spine and left femur BMD and total body soft tissue composition were measured by dual X-ray absorptiometry. Results Among the study population, 578 (60·5%) subjects were without osteoporosis and 376 (39·4%) subjects were osteoporotic. The osteoporotic women were older, shorter and thinner, had an earlier age at menopause, a lower BMD and bone mineral content (BMC) of the total body and at different sites, and had lower body mass and body mass components than the women without osteoporosis. Both fat mass and lean mass were positively correlated with age at menopause, height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and BMD at all sites. Fat mass and lean mass were also inversely correlated with age and years since menopause (P