Association of volatile organic compounds with bone mineral density and osteoporosis: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to assess the associations between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and osteoporosis based on a national sample of US adults.

Methods: A total of 991 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were included to investigate the relationships between VOCs and osteoporosis. Logistic regression models were employed to evaluate these associations.

Results: We found that 2MHA, AAMA, AMCC, CEMA, CYMA, DHBMA, 3HPMA, MADA, and HPMMA were positively associated with osteoporosis. Compared to the first tertile, the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the third tertile were as follows: 1.13 (1.02–1.28) for 2MHA, 1.12 (1.02–1.29) for AAMA, 1.25 (1.12–1.56) for AMCC, 1.20 (1.05–1.34) for CEMA, 1.35 (1.17–1.79) for CYMA, 1.15 (1.04–1.27) for DHBMA, 1.15 (1.02–1.28) for 3HPMA, 1.13 (1.01–1.27) for MADA, and 1.10 (1.02–1.32) for HPMMA. However, the associations between other VOCs and osteoporosis were not statistically significant.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that certain VOCs are associated with higher prevalence of osteoporosis. Further studies are needed to verify these findings.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12891-025-09093-x.

Keywords: Adults; Osteoporosis; Volatile organic compounds.

Fig. 1

Flowchart of the study