The impact of the metabolic syndrome on bone mass density: a prospective case control study

Background Obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) during the perimenopausal period and in menopause have been linked to altered bone mass density (BMD) in various experimental studies. However, current clinical studies provide conflicting results in this field. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate this association. Materials and methods We conducted a prospective case control study that was based on a consecutive series of menopausal women who attended the Reproductive Endocrinology Outpatient Clinic of our hospital between January 2013 and December 2016. Results One hundred and forty post-menopausal women were included in the present study. After stratifying the women in two groups according to the presence of MetS we observed that bone turnover markers remained unaffected by the presence of MetS (p > 0.05). On the other hand, both the T- and Z-scores of women with MetS were significantly higher compared to healthly postmenopausal women [T-score: 0.4 (-0.7 to 1.3) vs. -1 (-1.62 to -0.1), p < 0.001] [Z-score: 0.55 (-0.3 to 1.7) vs. -0.4 (-1.1 to 0.4), p = 0.003]. Conclusions According to the findings of our study the presence of MetS during the perimenopausal years seems to have a mild benefit on bone mass density. The pathophysiology that underlies this effect remains unclear as bone turnover markers seem to be unaffected by MetS.