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Published on: January 29, 2018
Lipid profile, obesity and bone mineral density: the Hertfordshire Cohort Study
E M Dennison1, H E Syddall, A Aihie Sayer
1MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK. emd@mrc.soton.ac.uk
Background:
Body mass index (BMI) and bone mineral density (BMD) are positively correlated in several studies, but few data relate bone density, lipid profile and anthropometric measures.
Aim:
To investigate these relationships in a large, well-characterized cohort of men and women (The Hertfordshire Cohort Study).
Methods:
Men (n = 465) and women (n = 448) from Hertfordshire, UK were recruited. Information was available on demographic and lifestyle factors, anthropometric measurements, body fat percentage, fasting triglycerides, cholesterol (total, HDL, LDL), apolipoprotein (a) and apolipoprotein (b); bone mineral density (BMD) was recorded at the lumbar spine and total femur.
Results:
BMD at the lumbar spine (males r = 0.15, p = 0.001; females r = 0.14, p = 0.003) and total femoral region (males r = 0.18, p = 0.0001; females r = 0.16, p = 0.0008) was related to serum triglyceride level, even after adjustment for waist-hip ratio, age, social class and lifestyle factors, but not if body fat percentage was substituted for waist-hip ratio in the regression model. Fasting HDL cholesterol level was related to lumbar spine BMD in women (r = -0.15, p = 0.001) and total femoral BMD in both sexes (males r = -0.15, p = 0.002; females r = -0.23, p < 0.0001); these relationships were also attenuated by adjustment for body fat percentage but not waist-hip ratio. No relationships were seen between total or LDL cholesterol with BMD.
Discussion:
In this cohort, relationships between lipid profile and BMD were robust to adjustment for one measure of central obesity (waist-hip ratio), but not total body fat. This broadly supports the idea that adiposity may confound the relationship between lipids and bone mass.
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