Predicting bone mineral density of postmenopausal healthy and cirrhotic Italian women using age and body mass index.

The objective of the present report was to develop mathematical prediction formulae for the lumbar spine, pelvis and total bone mineral density (BMD) based on the osteoporosis risk factors age and BMI in healthy and cirrhotic postmenopausal women. The study population comprised 20 postmenopausal cirrhotic women (late PM cirrhotic women), 20 postmenopausal healthy women matched for age and BMI (late PM healthy women), and 19 younger postmenopausal healthy women matched for BMI (early PM healthy women). Segmental and total bone mineral content and BMD, total bone-free lean body mass and total fat mass were measured for all women using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The prediction formulae for late PM cirrhotic women had higher cumulative correlation coefficients ( r=0.71, p=0.05 for spine BMD, r=0.84, p=0.013 for pelvis BMD, and r=0.89, p=0.004 for total BMD) than those for early PM healthy women ( r=0.64, p=0.015 for spine BMD, r=0.69, p=0.002 for pelvis BMD, and r=0.62, p=0.022 for total BMD) and late PM healthy women ( r=0.29, p=NS for spine BMD, r=0.39, p=NS for pelvis BMD, and r=0.54, p=NS for total BMD). The mathematical formulae based on the variables age and BMI were capable of predicting lumbar spine BMD, pelvis BMD, and total BMD by DXA for the three groups of postmenopausal women.