BONE MINERAL DENSITY IN WOMEN DEPENDING ON PRESENCE AND STAGE OF KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS

The purpose of the research was the study of indices of bone mineral density (BMD) in women depending on the presence and stage of knee osteoarthritis (KO). We examined 190 women (83 without KO, 107 with KO I-III stage) aged 40-89 years. The diagnosis OA was confirmed clinically and radiologically, BMD was assessed using two-photon X-ray densitometry (DXA). We established that BMD indices in different regions of skeleton were significantly higher in patients with KO compared with healthy women, more pronounced differences were observed in patients in age group of 50-79 years. The progression of KO was associated with increased BMD indices, mainly due to the increase in the axial skeleton and less in femur, which may be relevant in interpreting the DXA results.