title: The muscle-bone unit in adulthood: influence of sex, height, age and gynecological history on the bone mineral content and muscle cross-sectional area.
abstract: Bone and muscle development are both strongly influenced by sex hormones. The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in bone and muscle parameters (bone mineral content - BMC, muscle cross-sectional area - MA) in 130 men aged 31 -60 years, and in 180 pre-menopausal women aged 30-53 years with respect to age, body height and, with the women, their gynecological history (age-at-menarche, number of pregnancies, duration of lactation and use of oral contraception). The study was performed using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) at a 65% site of the forearm length. Both BMC and MA were dependent on body height (p<0.0001), but not on age. The BMC/MA ratio was dependent neither on age nor on body height in both genders. MA as well as BMC were found significantly higher in males than in females (p<0.0001 for both variables). We observed a significantly higher BMC/MA ratio in females than in males (p<0.0001). We found no effect either of the analyzed variables of gynecological history on bone/muscle characteristics. The findings highlight the necessity of involving height-adjusted parameters and BMC/MA ratio into bone analysis in adults.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sumnik
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Land
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Coburger
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Neu
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Manz
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hrach
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schoenau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001827:Body Height; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology*; D001846:Bone Development / Q000502:physiology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000494:pharmacology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007774:Lactation; D008297:Male; D008572:Menarche; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000187:drug effects; D011247:Pregnancy; D017697:Premenopause; D011884:Radius / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D003276:Contraceptives, Oral