Endocrine Abstracts

JOINT1722

Introduction: Obesity is a global health problem with rising prevalence. Traditionally, obesity was considered to exert a positive (protective) impact on BMD. However, this augmentation does not confer protection against the risk of fractures, constituting an “obesity paradox”. Emerging data indicate that the effect of adipose tissue on bone health is much more complex. Trabecular bone score (TBS) provides information on bone texture and predicts fracture risk independently of BMD. The present study aimed to investigate the association of body composition and bone quality as evaluated by lumbar spine (LS) TBS.

Methods: We included 118 postmenopausal women (mean age: 60.73±8.97years and mean BMI 28.36 ± 5.8) with no history of secondary osteoporosis or previous anti-osteoporotic treatment. Body composition, BMD and TBS were evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). To explore the associations among the variables of interest, Spearman’s correlations were used. Simple and multiple linear regression models were also applied to explore the associations among variables of interest.

Results: Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) mass, android fat mass and android/gynoid fat ratio were negative predictors of TBS (Stb= -0.413, P < 0.001; Stb= -0.369, P < 0.001; Stb= -0.333, P < 0.001, respectively). Similarly, both the right (Stb= -0.313, P < 0.001) and left arm fat mass (Stb= -0.313, P < 0.001) were negative predictors of TBS. In multiple linear regression model, VAT mass exhibited a significant negative association with TBS (Stb = -0.415, P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The present study offers evidence that VAT mass holds a negative association with bone quality as estimated by TBS in postmenopausal women. Thus, it seems that VAT accumulation not only increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even some types of cancer but also may lead to the deterioration of bone quality.

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