Bone mineral density and fractures in postmenopausal women of Maya-Mestizo ethnic origin with different body mass indexes

Abstract

Background

Obesity protects against bone loss, but it increases the risk of fragility fractures.

Aim

To determine if bone mineral density (BMD) and the prevalence of fractures are different in postmenopausal Maya-Mestizo women grouped according to their body mass index (BMI).

Subjects and methods

We studied 600 postmenopausal Maya-Mestizo women. A structured questionnaire for risk factors was applied. Body mass index was determined. BMD was assessed at the lumbar spine and total hip by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. History of low trauma fracture was determined from medical records. ANOVA was used to compare mean BMD between women with different BMI. To compare the frequency of fractures according to BMI group, we used χ² test.

Results

According to WHO classification of BMI, 16.3% of women had normal BMI, 35.3% were overweight, and 48.4% had obesity. We found that women with obesity had a higher BMD versus women with normal BMI or overweight in all the anatomical sites analysed. The prevalence of history of fractures was 18.2%. We did not find differences between the women of different BMI; the wrist was the most frequent skeletal site of the fracture.

Conclusion

Obesity in postmenopausal Maya-Mestizo women is not a risk factor for developing fragility fractures.

Keywords:

• Body mass index
• bone mineral density
• fractures
• postmenopausal Maya-Mestizo women

Acknowledgements

Ethical approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committees and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in the study.

Author contributions

Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Thelma Canto-Cetina, David Rojano-Mejía, Ramón Mauricio Coral-Vázquez, José Antonio Cetina-Manzanilla, Lucila Polanco-Reyes, and Patricia Canto. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Thelma Canto-Cetina, Ramón Mauricio Coral-Vázquez, and Patricia Canto and all authors commented on previous version of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, México, under Grant SALUD-2009-114890.