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Visceral adipose tissue associated with vertebral fracture in women
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The prevalence of vertebral fractures may be predicted by high fat mass, particularly visceral adipose tissue, in women, but adiposity was not associated with prevalence of vertebral fracture in men, according to published findings.
Karen Hind, PhD, senior research fellow at Leeds Beckett University in Newcastle on Tyne, United Kingdom, and colleagues evaluated data from the Newcastle Thousand Families Study cohort on 342 adults (mean age, 62.5 years; 152 men) to determine associations of total fat mass, visceral adipose tissue and C-reactive protein (CRP) with bone mineral density and prevalent vertebral fracture.
Overall, women had a significantly lower prevalence of vertebral fractures compared with men in the logistic regression (OR = 0.33; 95% CI, 0.21-0.53). Compared with women without vertebral fractures, women with vertebral fractures were heavier and had greater lean tissue mass, total fat mass and visceral adipose tissue and higher CRP levels. Among women, the odds for prevalent vertebral fracture increased by 1.06 for each standard deviation increase in total fat mass and by 2.5 for each standard deviation increase in visceral adipose tissue.
Vertebral fractures were not associated with fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) scores or the number of falls in the past 12 months.
Femoral neck and lumbar spine BMD were positively correlated with body weight and all body composition and adiposity markers in all participants (P < .05).
“The key finding of our study was that regardless of bone density, higher body mass and levels of total and visceral fat significantly increased the likelihood of prevalent vertebral fracture in women,” Hind told Endocrine Today. “This suggests that these factors, rather than having a protective effect against fracture, may indeed elevate risk, although this risk appears to be sex-specific and there were no factors in this study that were predictive of fracture in men of the same age. Current algorithms for fracture risk prediction identify low body mass as a risk factor. Therefore, efforts should be directed to clarify skeletal risks of being overweight and excess adiposity.” – by Amber Cox
For more information:
Karen Hind, PhD, can be reached at Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, Fairfax Hall, Headingley Campus, Leeds, LS6 3QS, U.K.; email: k.hind@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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