The obesity indices mediate the relationships of blood lipids and bone mineral density in Chinese elders.

OBJECTIVE

It is unclear what role does obesity (OB) index play between blood lipid and bone mineral density (BMD).

SUBJECTS

This study recruited a total of 4,558 Chinese elders >65 years. OB indices: waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), waist-hip-ratio (WHR); blood lipid parameters: low density lipoprotein (LDL); total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and BMDs at femur neck (FN), total hip (TH), and lumbar spine (LS) were measured. The t-test and multiple linear regression analysis were used to detect the differences of variables. Casual inference test (CIT) were performed to test potential mediators underlying the associations between blood lipid and BMD.

RESULTS

The blood lipids were positively associated with BMD (p < 0.05) after adjustment of age and sex (Model 1) both in total subjects and in sex-stratified subjects. The CIT showed that OB indices had significant mediation effects on the associations between blood lipid (TG and LDL) and BMD in total subjects and males. Comparably, the correlations of TG and BMD are most likely mediated by BMI and WC.

CONCLUSIONS

This study represented the first effort to report that OB indices, especially BMI and WC, served as significant mediators between blood lipid (TG and LDL) and BMD in Chinese elderly.