title: Sex-related differences in the association between waist circumference and bone mineral density in a Korean population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Large waist circumference is linked to poor health. Investigations of the relationship between waist circumference, as an index of abdominal fat, and bone mineral density (BMD) have yielded inconsistent results. We investigated the association between abdominal obesity measured using waist circumference and BMD in a large-scale population-based study.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 8981 Korean (3592 males and 5389 females) community-dwelling individuals aged ≥50 years from 2007 to 2010. BMD was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at lumbar spine and femoral neck skeletal sites. A multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between waist circumference quartiles and BMD after adjusting for age, height, weight, and regular exercise.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The adjustment for age, height, weight, and regular exercise revealed a negative linear association between quartile of waist circumference and BMD at the femoral neck and lumbar spine sites in males and females. Waist circumference was more strongly correlated with BMD in males than in females. Although the correlations were slightly attenuated following further adjustment for percent body fat, they remained statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results revealed that waist circumference is independently and inversely associated with BMD after adjusting for age, weight, height, regular exercise and percent body fat, suggesting that waist circumference is a potential predictor of osteoporosis in middle-aged and older Korean males and females.
authors.forename: Lian-Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, 5 hak-dong, Dong-gu, 501-746 Gwangju City, South Korea. mhshinx@paran.com.
authors.forename: Min-Ho
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Sun-Seog
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kweon
authors.forename: Jin-Su
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jung-Ae
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rhee
authors.forename: Young-Hoon
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hae-Sung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Seul-Ki
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Kyeong-Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: So-Yeon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Seong-Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000502:physiology*