Bone mineral density and biochemical markers in evaluation of bone health in women

Objectives: To determine the incidence of osteopenia and osteoporosis in women aged between 40-65 years and find the association between Bone mineral density (BMD) and biochemical parameters. Methodology: The study was conducted in women aged between 40-65 years visiting Gynecology Department of Vivekanand Polyclinic & Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated and BMD was measured in terms of T-scores and Z-scores. Estimation of serum biochemical and serum FSH level was done. The statistical analysis was done using SPSS v. 15.0. Result: Out of 100 women, low BMD was observed in 35% out of which 30% had oesteopenia and 5% had osteoporosis. 88.6% subjects with BMI between 18 to 25 kg/m2 had low BMD, whereas only 11.4% with BMI between 2430 kg/m2 were found to be suffering from low bone mass. Low serum calcium levels were seen in 54.3% women having low BMD. Higher levels of serum alkaline phosphatase and serum FSH seemed to be associated with low BMD. Conclusions: We found that 65.7% of subjects between 40-50 years and 22.9% of cases between 51 to 60 years had low BMD. In women having serum calcium level less than 8.7 mg% chance of having osteopenia and osteoprosis was almost similar in both perimenopausal and post menopausal women. Higher FSH levels were found to be associated with bone loss.