Healio
Healio
June 14, 2011
1 min read
Save

Wrinkles could predict fracture risk in women during early menopause

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

The severity and distribution of skin wrinkles, as well as overall skin quality, could be predictors of bone mineral density in women during early menopause, according to a recently presented study.

The findings were presented by Lubna Pal, MBBS, MRCOG, at the 93rd Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society in Boston, Mass.

“Skin and bones share common building blocks — proteins — and aging is accompanied by changes in skin, and deterioration of bone quantity and quality,” Pal stated in a Yale University press release.

Predictive qualities of wrinkles

Pal and her team investigated 114 participants in the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS), a longitudinal trial of menopausal hormone therapy. Participants were also enrolled in a skin ancillary study. The Lamperle wrinkle scale was used to assess skin wrinkles at 11 sites on the face and neck, and a durometer was used to determine skin rigidity on the forehead and cheek.

Bone mineral density was determined through dual X-ray absorptiometry of the lumbar spine, left hip and total body — as well as quantitative heel ultrasound. Data from these tests were analyzed together to determine the relationship of bone mineral density to skin wrinkles and skin rigidity.

Age, body mass, race, ethnicity, age at menopause, history of smoking and intake of multivitamins were also taken into account.

Relationships

Skin wrinkling, Pal reported, demonstrated an inverse relationship with bone mineral density. Conversely, the study determined strong positive correlations between skin rigidity and bone mineral density.

“We found that deepening and worsening skin wrinkles are related to lower bone density among the study participants,” Pal stated in the release. “The worse the wrinkles, the lesser the bone density, and this relationship was independent of age or of factors known to influence bone mass.”

References:
  • Pal L, Kidwai N, Glockenberg K, et al. Skin wrinkling and rigidity are predictive of bone mineral density in early postmenopausal women. Paper P3-126. Presented at the 93rd Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society. June 4-7, 2011. Boston.
  • www.yale.edu
  • Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.

Twitter Follow OrthoSuperSite.com on Twitter

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.