Risk Factors Associated with Bone Marrow Adiposity Deposition in Postmenopausal Women in the CASH China Study

Abstract

Purpose

To investigated the factors that influence BMAC.

Patients and Methods

Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were applied to measure abdominal fat areas, liver fat content, erector muscle fat content, and BMAC of the L2-4 vertebrae. Sex hormone, adipokine, and inflammatory factor levels were measured on the same day.

Results

Although age, erector muscle fat content, estradiol, testosterone, and adiponectin/leptin levels showed correlations with BMAC in the correlation analysis, the equations obtained from the whole population by multivariate analysis were unclear. Patients were stratified according to BMAC quartiles, and differences were found in vBMD, age, estradiol, testosterone, and erector muscle fat content among the four quartiles. Logistic analyses confirmed that age, estradiol/testosterone ratio, and TNF-α had independent effects on BMAC in all quartiles. In addition, height was related to higher BMAC quartiles, and glucose was related to lower BMAC quartiles.

Conclusion

Compared to other body fats, BMAC is a unique fat depot. Age, estradiol/testosterone ratio, and TNF-α are all key influencing factors related to BMAC in postmenopausal women. Furthermore, height and glucose levels were related to BMAC in the higher and lower BMAC quartiles, respectively.

Keywords:

• bone marrow adiposity
• postmenopausal women
• age
• adipokines
• sex hormones

Data Sharing Statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author Xiaoguang Cheng upon reasonable request.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

This cross-sectional study was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013). The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital (20151202), and written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to participation.

Disclosure

The authors declare that the study was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as potential conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the Beijing Hospitals Authority Clinical Medicine Development of Special Funding Support (ZYLX202107), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81971617, 2019), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2020YFC2004900), the Youth Training Program of Military Medical Science and Technology (20QNPY103), the Translational Medicine Projects of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital (2017TM-021), and the High Level Talents “Discipline backbone” Project of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital (XKGG2021123).