title: Relationships between vertebral fractures, sex hormones and vitamin D in Moroccan postmenopausal women: a cross sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vertebral Fractures (VFs) are associated with bone loss that occurs before menopause but is accelerated at menopause as a result of sex hormone deficiency. To determine the association of sex hormones, bone remodeling markers and vitamin D levels with bone mineral density (BMD) and asymptomatic VFs prevalence using vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) in a cohort of Moroccan menopausal women.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study conducted from October 2012 to April 2013 with menopausal women aged 50 years old and over. A total of 207 women who had no previous diagnosis of osteoporosis were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Women were recruited prospectively from our laboratory department. VFA images and scans of the lumbar spine and proximal femur were obtained using a GE Healthcare Lunar Prodigy densitometer. VFs were defined using a combination of Genant semiquantitative approach and morphometry. Serum levels of estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, Sex hormone binding globulin, vitamin D, Osteocalcin, Crosslaps, intact parathormone were measured by Electrochemiluminescent immunoassay technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 207 women, 18.3 % (n = 38) had densitometric osteoporosis. On VFA, VFs were detected in 134 (62.3 %), including 96 (44.6 %) grade 1 and 38 (17.6 %) grade 2/3. There was no difference in the plasma levels of sex steroids, bone remodeling markers and vitamin D in the group of women with VFs (grade 1 and grade 2/3) and without VFs. The combination of variables that best predicted grade 2/3 VFs included the number of years since menopause and the lumbar spine T-score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data confirm the importance of postmenopausal estrogen and SHBG concentrations in the bone loss and the pathogenesis of osteoporosis in elderly women, but not in the occurrence of the VFs.
authors.affiliation: University Mohamed V Souissi, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Av. Mohamed Belarbi El Alaoui Rabat Institut, University Mohamed V Souissi, BP 6203, Rabat, Morocco. aissamelmaataoui@yahoo.fr.|Biochemsitry Department, Military Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. aissamelmaataoui@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Aissam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El Maataoui
authors.affiliation: University Mohamed V Souissi, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Av. Mohamed Belarbi El Alaoui Rabat Institut, University Mohamed V Souissi, BP 6203, Rabat, Morocco. aelmaghraoui@gmail.com.|Rheumatology Department, Military Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. aelmaghraoui@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Abdellah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El Maghraoui
authors.affiliation: Biochemsitry Department, Military Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. abiaz@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Asmae
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biaz
authors.affiliation: University Mohamed V Souissi, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Av. Mohamed Belarbi El Alaoui Rabat Institut, University Mohamed V Souissi, BP 6203, Rabat, Morocco. samiraelmachratni@yahoo.fr.|Biochemsitry Department, Military Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. samiraelmachratni@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Samira Idrissi
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Elmachtani
authors.affiliation: University Mohamed V Souissi, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Av. Mohamed Belarbi El Alaoui Rabat Institut, University Mohamed V Souissi, BP 6203, Rabat, Morocco. abdami@yahoo.fr.|Biochemsitry Department, Military Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. abdami@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Abdellah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dami
authors.affiliation: University Mohamed V Souissi, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Av. Mohamed Belarbi El Alaoui Rabat Institut, University Mohamed V Souissi, BP 6203, Rabat, Morocco. sanaeb@hotmail.com.|Biochemsitry Department, Military Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. sanaeb@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Sanae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bouhsain
authors.affiliation: University Mohamed V Souissi, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Av. Mohamed Belarbi El Alaoui Rabat Institut, University Mohamed V Souissi, BP 6203, Rabat, Morocco. amounach@hotmail.com.|Rheumatology Department, Military Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. amounach@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Aziza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mounach
authors.affiliation: University Mohamed V Souissi, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Av. Mohamed Belarbi El Alaoui Rabat Institut, University Mohamed V Souissi, BP 6203, Rabat, Morocco. lchabraoui@yahoo.fr.|Biochemistry Department, Ibn Sina Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. lchabraoui@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Layachi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chabraoui
authors.affiliation: University Mohamed V Souissi, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Av. Mohamed Belarbi El Alaoui Rabat Institut, University Mohamed V Souissi, BP 6203, Rabat, Morocco. ouzzifadil@yahoo.fr.|Biochemsitry Department, Military Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. ouzzifadil@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Zohra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ouzzif
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon / Q000379:methods; D000368:Aged; D015519:Bone Density; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009018:Morocco / Q000453:epidemiology; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D014807:Vitamin D