Anthropometric, biochemical, and nutritional risk factors for osteoporosis in Korean adults based on a large cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis a common bone disorder characterized by decreases in bone mass, tension, and strength. Although many previous studies worldwide have sought to identify the risk factors for osteoporosis, studies that simultaneously examine a variety of factors, such as biochemical, anthropometric and nutritional components, are very rare. Therefore, the objective of this study was to simultaneously examine the association of osteoporosis with biochemical profiles, anthropometric factors, and nutritional components in a large-scale cross-sectional study. METHOD: This cross-sectional study was based on data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES VI-VII) from 2015 to 2018. Based on data from 16,454 participants, logistic regression was used to examine the association between various parameters in a crude analysis and in models adjusted for confounders. RESULTS: In men, osteoporosis was significantly associated with the anthropometric variables height and weight; the biochemical components hemoglobin, hematocrit, urea nitrogen and urine pH and creatinine; and the nutritional components total food intake, energy, water, protein, phosphorus, and kalium. However, these associations disappeared in adjusted model 2. In women, osteoporosis was significantly related to the anthropometric measures height, weight, and systolic blood pressure; the biochemical components hemoglobin, hematocrit and urine pH; and the nutritional components total food intake, water, calcium, phosphorus, and kalium. Most of these associations were maintained in the adjusted models. CONCLUSION: Osteoporosis was linked to various anthropometric, biochemical and urine and nutritional components in Korean women, but the association between osteoporosis and risk factors differed according to sex.