Bone mass and body composition in normal women

The interrelationships between measurements of bone mass and total-body bone mineral were examined in a cross-sectional study of normal healthy women aged 17-82 years. In addition we evaluated the relationship between measures of body composition, estimated by four independent techniques, and bone mass in the same population. Considering the group as a whole, bone mass at all sites correlated with each other and with total-body bone mineral (TBBM). Cancellous and cortical sites could predict TBBM equally well. As expected, all measurements of bone mass were significantly lower in postmenopausal women in comparison to premenopausal women. Declines in bone mass were only seen in premenopausal women in the femoral neck and Ward's triangle, not in lumbar spine, radius, or skeleton as a whole. In postmenopausal women bone mass correlated negatively with age and years from menopause equally at all sites. TBBM was significantly related to height and weight in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women. In premenopausal and postmenopausal women TBBM also correlated with fat mass, but TBBM was much better correlated with percentage body fat in premenopausal than postmenopausal women. TBBM was a constant proportion of lean body mass in premenopausal women, but the fraction of lean mass occupied by the skeleton declined with age in postmenopausal women. Correction of TBBM for lean mass did not change the relationship between TBBM and percentage fat in premenopausal women but eliminated the relationship in postmenopausal women. Regional measurements, which are at least partially corrected for body size by dividing mass by area, correlated less well with height and weight and with any index of obesity, especially in postmenopausal women.