The relationship between osteoporosis and extremity muscle and subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness in postmenopausal women

Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between muscle thickness and subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness (SATT) in the upper and lower extremities and the presence of osteoporosis/osteopenia in postmenopausal women (PMW).Material and Methods: Three groups were formed based on T-score ranges, each consisting of 30 PMW with similar demographic characteristics: healthy, osteopenic, and osteoporotic.The quadriceps femoris muscle thicknesses (QFMT) and the biceps brachii plus brachialis muscle thicknesses (BB+BMT) of the participants, along with the SATT at these points, were measured by ultrasound (US).Notably, this is the first study to utilize receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to assess QFMT and BB+BMT as predictors of osteopenia and/or osteoporosis in PMW.One of the unique contributions of this study to the literature is that the participants were selected from individuals who had not previously received osteoporosis treatment.Results: A significant difference in QFMT values was observed among the three groups (all p<0.05).L1-L4 T-score showed a moderate positive correlation with QFMT (r = 0.562, p < 0.001) and a weak correlation with BB+BMT (r = 0.382, p = 0.003).Additionally, a weak positive correlation was found between QFMT and the femoral neck T-score (r=0.307,p=0.017).Among the parameters examined for predicting osteoporosis, the largest area under the curve (AUC) was found for QFMT, with a value of 0.899 (p<0.001).Discussion: The current study demonstrated a significant association between osteoporosis and muscle thickness, in contrast to SATT, with QFMT being more impactful in predicting the disease than BB+BMT.