Risk factors for osteoporosis in the elderly and predictive value of age, body mass index, and visceral fat area.

Background/objectives: Osteoporosis (OS) is a systemic bone disease that increases bone fragility and fracture susceptibility, which is characterized by reduced bone mass, poor bone quality, and decreased bone strength. This study examined the risk factors for OS in the elderly.

Subjects/methods: Two hundred elderly patients who underwent examinations in the authors' hospital from July 2021 to October 2023 were selected as the research subjects. The subject's clinical data were analyzed retrospectively to understand the characteristics or changes of the study subjects during the period. The subjects who met the inclusion criteria were divided into an OS group (S group, 73 cases with T value ≤ -2.5 SD) and a non-OS group (NS group, 127 cases with T value > -2.5 SD) based on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The receiver operating characteristics were applied to analyze the predictive value.

Results: Age (> 65 yrs), sex (female), visceral fat areas (VFA) (> 86 cm²), calcium intake (low), bone mineral density (BMD) (≤ 81 mg/cm²), and parathyroid hormone (PTH) (> 67 pg/mL) were risk factors for the development of OS. The model showed an accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 86.50% (173/200), 93.15% (68/73), and 82.68% (105/127), respectively. The areas under the curve for age, body mass index (BMI), VFA, and combined detection were 0.733, 0.757, 0.811, and 0.902, respectively. The combined detection had a higher predictive value for OS.

Conclusion: Age, sex, BMI, VFA, calcium intake, BMD, and PTH were relevant factors affecting the development of OS. The combined detection by age, BMI, and VFA could predict the development of OS.