Correlation of Muscle Strength and Mass with Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

Introduction: Osteoporosis is a systemic disease of the bone, which entails an increased riskof fracture, with high impact on morbidity, mortality and costs in the health system. Severalstudies have shown a relationship between muscle mass and strength with bone mineral density.Our objective is to determine the correlation between these variables in postmenopausalwomen. Materials and Methods: For the correlation study, 100 postmenopausal womenolder than 50 years were selected randomly and a sociodemographic survey was conducted,and muscle strength was determined by manual grip strength, which was measured with adigital dynamometer. Bone mineral density measurements and muscle mass were obtainedwith densitometry. The correlation between strength, muscle mass, and bone mineral densitywas determined by a Spearman correlation. Results: The average age was 62.8 ± 7.48. Femurand column bone mineral density were significantly related to the muscle mass index, weight,and body mass index. The prevalence of fragility fracture was 17%. The bone mineral densityof the femur was lower in patients with fragile fracture, and there was a negative and significantcorrelation between femur bone mineral density and skeletal muscle mass index. Conclusion:Bone health studies should include the study of muscle mass index and the skeletal musclemass index. The improvement of the muscle mass index can influence femoral and vertebralbone mineral density with significant impact on fragility fractures. This is the first study of itskind conducted in Colombia and South America.