RESEARCH - Relationship of sex steroid hormones with BMD in a nationally representative sample of men

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Relationship of Sex Steroid Hormones With Bone Mineral Density (BMD)

in a Nationally Representative Sample of Men

Medscape

Posted Mar 19 2009

Channing J. Paller; Meredith S. Shiels; Sabine Rohrmann; Shehzad

Basaria; Nader Rifai; ; A. Platz; Dobs

Summary

Objective: Sex steroid hormones influence bone mineral density (BMD)

in women, but are less well-studied in men. We evaluated the

association of serum total and free sex steroid hormones and SHBG with

osteopaenia in a nationally representative sample of men aged 20-90

years.

Design: BMD and sex steroid hormones were measured among participants

in NHANES III, a cross-sectional study of the US population.

Population: A total of 1185 adult men in morning examination session

of Phase I of NHANES III (1988-91).

Measurements: Relation of oestradiol (E2), testosterone, and SHBG

concentrations with BMD. Osteopaenia was defined as 1-2.5 SD below the

mean for white men aged 20-29 years.

Results: Men in the lowest quartile of free E2 had 70% increased odds

(OR = 1.69, 95% CI 0.95-2.98) of osteopaenia compared with men in the

highest quartile. Men in the lowest quartile of free testosterone had

nearly four times the odds of osteopaenia than those in the highest

quartile (OR = 3.82, 95% CI 1.87-7.78). Lower concentrations of SHBG

appeared protective against osteopaenia (P-trend = 0.01). Neither

total testosterone nor total E2 was associated with BMD, although men

with clinically low E2 (< 20 ng/l) had lower BMD (0.930 g/cm2, 95% CI

0.88-0.98) than men with normal-range E2 (1.024 g/cm2, 95% CI

1.01-1.04; P = 0.004). Findings for free E2 were most pronounced among

elderly men, while the findings for free testosterone were most

pronounced among younger men.

Conclusions: In this nationally representative study, men with lower

free E2, lower free testosterone, and higher SHBG concentrations in

circulation were more likely to have low BMD.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/586802

Not an MD