title: Bone mineral density of women aged 40-44 and 50-54 with normal menstruation.
abstract: Osteoporosis is a worldwide health problem with a serious social impact on women. The susceptibility to fractures in this disease correlates closely with bone mineral density (BMD) underlying the importance of bone density testing and assessment of future fracture risk.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the bone mineral density of lumbar vertebrae (L2-L4) of premenopausal women aged 40-44 and 50-54 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 151 women in the age range of 40 to 44 years and 96 women aged 50-54 years with regular menstruation. Anthropometric measurements for each woman included height, weight, and body mass. The lumbar vertebrae BMD was determined by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry using DPX-A-Lunar densitometer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age and height in both groups of women were not significantly correlated with bone density. Overweight correlated only moderately significantly with the bone density. Analysis of the mean bone density scores showed a confidence interval (at level of significance 95%) of 1.159 g/cm2 to 1.185 g/cm2 for women aged 40-44 years and 1.105 g/cm2 to 1.141 g/cm2 for women aged 50-54 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overweight in women aged 40-44 and 50-54 years is a protective but not main determinant of the bone density of lumbar vertebrae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Encho D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Enchev
authors.forename: Elena D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Dimitrakova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D015519:Bone Density; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged