• Kwang Yoon Kim, Jaesun Park, Sungwon Yang, Junghwa Shin, Ji Hyun Park, Bumhee Park, and Bom Taeck Kim.
• Department of Family Practice and Community Health, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
• J. Korean Med. Sci. 2023 Oct 30; 38 (42): e364e364.

BackgroundAge-adjusted bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women decreases in developed countries whereas incidence of osteoporotic fracture decreases or remains stable. We investigated secular trends of bone density from 2008 to 2017 among different age groups of postmenopausal women.MethodsWe analyzed BMD data obtained from health check-ups of 4,905 postmenopausal women during three survey cycles from 2008 to 2017. We divided them into 3 groups by age (50-59 years, 60-69 years, and 70 years or more) and observed the transition of lumbar and femoral BMD in each group, before and after adjusting for variables that may affect BMD.ResultsAge-adjusted BMD, bone mineral content (BMC), and T-score demonstrated a declining trend over the survey period at lumbar spine (-2.8%), femur neck (-3.5%) and total femur (-4.3%), respectively. In the analysis for the age groups, the BMD, BMC, and T-score presented linear declining trend (-6.1%) in younger postmenopausal women while women aged over 70 or more showed linear increasing trends (+6.3%) at lumbar spine during the survey period. Femoral neck and total femur BMD demonstrated a declining linear trend only in the 50-59 and 60-69 years groups (-5.5%, -5.2%, respectively), but not in the 70 years or more group.ConclusionBMD in younger postmenopausal women has decreased considerably but has increased or plateaued in elderly women. This discordance of BMD trends among different age groups may contribute to decreased incidence of osteoporotic fracture despite a recent declining BMD trend in postmenopausal women.© 2023 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.

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