Characteristics of age-related changes in bone compared between male and female reference Chinese populations in Hong Kong: a pQCT study

Abstract

There have been few comprehensive studies on the age-related changes in bone mineral density (BMD) and bone structure in Chinese people. Using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), we assessed volumetric BMD of both trabecular and cortical bone and their geometry at both radius and tibia in 620 Chinese men and 638 women, aged 20–98 years, in Hong Kong. Cortical BMD did not start declining until after the age of 50 years in women and the age of 60 years in men. In contrast, trabecular BMD declined with age starting from adulthood in both sexes, and the rates of decline accelerated after the age of 50 years only in women. The integral and trabecular bone area expanded with age in older men and women, primarily at the tibia. Cortical bone area decreased significantly in older women, particularly at the tibia, while it decreased only slightly with aging in men. The moment of inertia decreased with age at the radius in older men and women. At the tibia, age-related decline accelerated in older women, but not in older men. It was concluded that trabecularization of bone in response to declining BMD and mechanical loading may be maladaptive by reducing cortical bone area, if periosteal apposition cannot keep pace with it.