Association between bone mineral densities and serum lipid profiles of pre- and post-menopausal rural women in South Korea

The objectives of this population-based study were to investigate the potential association between bone mineral density (BMD) and serum lipid profiles and to compare the effects of serum lipids on BMD at various skeletal sites in pre- and post-menopausal women. In July and August of 2004, BMD was measured at a variety of skeletal sites [lumbar spine (L1-4), femoral neck, trochanter, Ward's triangle, shaft and proximal total hip] using the GE/Bravo Lunar DPX dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer in a South Korean population-based sample of 375 pre-menopausal and 355 post-menopausal rural women aged 19-80 years. The levels of serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were inversely associated with BMD in both pre- and post-menopausal women. In the pre-menopausal women, correlations were shown only for lumbar 1-4 (TC: r = -0.12, P < 0.05; LDL-C: r = -0.12, P < 0.05), whereas in the post-menopausal women, no correlation was evident for the lumbar sites. In the post-menopausal subjects, the TC levels showed significant correlations with the BMD values at the trochanter (r = -0.15, P < 0.01), shaft (r = -0.16, P < 0.001) and proximal total hip (r = -0.15, P < 0.01) sites, while the LDL-C levels showed significant correlations with the BMD values at the neck (r = -0.13, P < 0.05), trochanter (r = -0.21, P < 0.001), shaft (r = -0.20, P < 0.001) and proximal total hip (r = -0.20, P < 0.001) sites. The levels of triglyceride (TG) were shown to have a significant positive correlation with BMD values at the trochanter site (r = 0.11, P = 0.05) in the post-menopausal women; by contrast, subjects in a higher quartile of TG levels show lower lumbar BMD values in the pre-menopausal women. The levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were not associated with BMD values at any of the sites in the pre- and post-menopausal subjects. Our data indicate a relationship between BMD values and serum lipid levels and suggest differences between pre- and post-menopausal women in terms of the effects of serum lipids on BMD at various skeletal sites.