Relationship between body composition, adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the risk of osteoporotic and hip fractures in rural Extremaduran women

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a systemic disease of the skeleton, characterized by the decrease in bone mass and adeterioration of the microarchitecture of bone tissue that increases it´s fragility, with the consequentincreased risk of fractures. The main cause of bone loss is the estrogen deprivation that is produced inwomen body after menopause. There are also other situations such as diseases, side effects of certaindrugs, hormonal and metabolic changes of age, immobilization, low exposure to sunlight etc.Fractures that are considered osteoporotic are those of the hip, distal radius, humerus and pelvis.This is an observational, analytical and cross-sectional study. The study involved 40 women from ruralareas in Extremadura. The main objective of this study is to analyze the risk of an osteoporotic or hipfracture. The risk was calculated through the FRAX tool, and was related to adherence to the Mediterranean diet and anthropometric factors. To collect the variables, a questionnaire was used withdifferent items and with the prior consent of the participants.We observed that 47.5% of the women had a BMI≥30, and the 55% of them had a very high percentageof fat mass. The study also revealed that 65% of women had low adherence to the Mediterranean dietand 35% had high adherence.In our study no statistically significant differences were found in the relationship between BMI,percentage of fat mass and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet with the risk of osteoporotic and hipfractures. The only determining factor was the age that, as it increases, increases the risk of fractures.