Limited value of ultrasound measured skin thickness in predicting bone mineral density in peri- and postmenopausal women.

Measurement of skin thickness has been proposed to be capable of predicting low bone mineral density and the risk of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. In order to investigate the association between the two factors, we measured skin thickness on the leg, lower abdomen and forearm by ultrasound scanning, and bone mineral density at the lumbar spine, femoral neck and distal radius by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in 60 peri- and postmenopausal women. Only a loose association was found between skin thickness and bone mineral density at any site, the highest correlation being between lumbar bone mineral density and abdominal skin thickness. The results of our study confirm that there is some association between the two factors, but the measurement of skin thickness, although easy and reliable, is not a clinically sufficient method to predict bone mineral density.