Relationship of whole body bone mineral density to total body calcium, total body fat, and other factors in type II diabetes mellitus.

Some studies suggest that patients with diabetes mellitus have an increased incidence of osteoporosis, but others have disputed it. The mechanisms of reduced bone density in diabetes are unclear but excessive calcium loss in the urine is generally accepted as one of the factors which contribute to bone loss in diabetes. Whole body bone densitometry makes possible to estimate the total body calcium concentration which might be influenced by urinary calcium loss and other humoral factors. To elucidate the possible direct relationship between total body calcium and reduced bone density, we examined the total body calcium, total body fat and the bone mineral density of the lumbar and femur with densitometry (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) in 93patients with type II diabetes mellitus end 316nondiabetic normal controls, Serum osteocalcin levels also measured by radioimmunoassay in all the patients. The results are summarized as follows: l) The bone mineral density declined with age in both diabetics and the control group but had no significnat differences statistically. 2) Thirty-six patients with diabetes (37.9%) had reduced bone mineral density below one standard deviation (1SD) of the normal controls. 3) The total body calcium concentration correlated highly to the total body bone density. 4) The femur bone density correlated more significantly than the lumbar bone density to the whole body bone density. 5) There were no correlations between the whole body bone density and total body fat or serum osteocalcin levels.