Physiologic, health and lifestyle factors associated with femoral neck bone density in older women.

Three hundred eleven women aged between 60 and 91 years (mean age 72.2) who were randomly recruited from the community underwent bone density assessments of the femoral neck. Two complementary multivariate techniques were used to assess the relationships between femoral neck bone density and a range of anthropometric, health, and lifestyle measures. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed age, weight, height, quadriceps strength, and lifelong smoking to be variables that independently and significantly explained part of the variance in femoral neck bone density within the group. Multiple logistic regression revealed that after adjusting for established predictors of bone mineral density, age, height, and weight, reduced quadriceps strength, lifelong smoking, and little childhood activity were significantly associated with low bone density (< 0.70 g/cm2), whereas superior quadriceps strength, nonsmoking, and high levels of current physical activity were significantly associated with high bone density (> 0.84 g/cm2). In contrast, current calcium intake was not significantly associated with bone density. The study findings highlight possible public health initiatives for minimizing age-related femoral neck bone loss in older women.