The literature data suggest an inverse relationship between osteoarthritis (OA) and osteoporosis (OP), implying rare simultaneous existence in the same patient and the fact that OA and OP represent two extremes, i.e. two different patient populations. The data about the association of increased bone mineral density (BMD) and OA, and increased bone loss in long-lasting OA during aging are still controversial. The aim of this paper was to investigate if there was any association between OA of different sites and increased BMD, as well as to investigate the correlation between BMD on one hand, and body mass index (BMI), radiologic grade of OA and duration of postmenopausal status, on the other. We studied 235 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years, with 48 of them with hand OA, 28 with hip OA, 39 with knee OA, 55 with GOA, and 65 controls. The studied groups were comparable by the factors of age and duration of postmenopausal period. BMD was measured in the lumbar spine (L1-L4) on DXA densitometer "Lunar" DPX and presented in absolute values in g/cm². In the groups with hand, hip and knee OA, significantly higher values of BMD were found compared to controls in the age subgroups of 50-59 and 60-69 years, while this difference was not significant in the age subgroup 70-79 years. In the GOA group, significantly higher values of BMD were found in all age subgroups. Between BMD and BMI, a positive corellation was found only in the control group (p<0.01) and GOA group (p<0.05). There was no correlation of radiologic OA grade and BMD in the studied groups. A negative corellation was found between the duration of postmenopause and BMD in all investigated groups (p<0,01). OA of different anatomic sites is associated with increased BMD, and the association is more conspicuous in younger age groups. The main predictor of the BMD is the duration of postmenopause, with longer postmenopause associated with lower BMD.
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