title: The relationship of depression, anxiety and stress with low bone mineral density in post-menopausal women.
abstract: The goal of the present study was to examine the relationships of depression, anxiety and stress with bone mineral density (BMD). We hypothesized negative relations between those mood variables and BMD in three assessed areas. The study showed association between depression and decreased BMD. The hypothesis regarding anxiety and stress was partially confirmed.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  In the last decade, the relationship of osteoporosis to psychological variables has been increasingly studied. The accumulating evidence from these studies supports the conclusion that depression is related to decreased BMD. Nevertheless, several studies found no support for this relationship. Moreover, only a small number of studies examined the association between anxiety or stress and decreased BMD. The goal of the present study was to examine the relationships of depression, anxiety and stress with BMD by means of adequate measuring instruments, while controlling for background factors known to be related to BMD decrease (e.g., body mass index, family history).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 135 post-menopausal female participants, who arrived for BMD screening, between the years 2006 and 2009. Several days prior to the examination, participants completed a series of questionnaires assessing depression and anxiety. BMD was measured using DXA, in spine, right and left hip.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study showed negative associations between depression and BMD variables in the three assessed areas. There were negative correlations between anxiety, stress and spine BMD, as well as a tendency towards negative relations in the right and left hip BMD. Concurrent hierarchical regressions showed that the addition of the three psychological variables increased the explained variance by 6–8 %. In addition, depression was found to have a unique significant contribution to the explained variance in right and left hip BMD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings provide supporting evidence for the existence of associations between mood variables and decreased BMD. Further research is required for gaining deeper insight into these relationships.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. hany.bur@gmail.com
authors.forename: Hany Burstein
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Erez
authors.forename: Aron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weller
authors.forename: Nachum
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vaisman
authors.forename: Shulamith
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kreitler
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015519:Bone Density / Q000187:drug effects; D001851:Bone Diseases, Metabolic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000523:psychology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents