The gender-specific associations between body composition, countermovement jump performance and bone quality in a young Chinese population

Abstract

Background: Prophylactic interventions against osteoporosis require a determination of the factors that influence the bone status during adulthood. This study aimed to investigate the associations between body composition parameters (body height (BH), body weight (BW), fat free mass (FFM), fat mass (FM), lower limb muscle mass (LLMM), lower limb fat mass (LLFM)), countermovement jump (CMJ) performance, and calcaneal bone stiffness (SI) in a population of young adults. Methods: The study population included 560 Chinese adults (369 females), aged 20-40 years. Body composition was obtained by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). The CMJ performance (CMJ height (CMJH), the impulse of CMJ phase (ICMJ) and potential energy in the CMJ phase (ECMJ)) was obtained by 3 maximal CMJ trials on ZTJ-II system. Bone quality was measured by quantitative ultrasound (QUS). Results: The present study found BW, FFM and LLMM had significant correlations with SI both in males (r=0.20-0.24, p<0.05) and females (r=0.12-0.20, p<0.05). However, FM and LLFM had positive correlations with SI only in females (p<0.05). CMJ performances, including CMJH, ICMJ and ECMJ, had significant positive correlations with SI in men (r=0.415, p<0.01; r=0.32, p<0.01; and r=0.39, p<0.01, respectively) and women (r=0.248, p<0.01; r=0.26, p<0.01; r=0.3, p<0.01, respectively). Conclusions: This provides evidence that local muscle mass have greater positive associations with calcaneal bone quality than total FFM, and local muscle mass and power are the determinations of region bone quality in young adults. The bone–muscle relationship is more prominent in males than in females.