Bone Mineral Density in Normal Chinese Men and Women in Singapore

169 men and 267 women aged 20 to 69 years had bone mineral density measured in the lumbar spine and femoral neck by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The male subjects were significantly taller and heavier than the female subjects. However, there was no significant difference in body mass indexes of males and females. In males, the regression of age on lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD was linear, with peak BMD attained in the 20–29 age group. In females, peak BMD occurred in the age group 30–39 years. The regression of BMD with age in females was best fit by a cubic regression curve. There was no difference in peak spine BMD (1.176 ± 0.121 g/cm2 for males versus 1.221 ± 0.129 g/cm2 for females; p < 0.01). However, males were found to have significantly higher peak BMD in the femoral neck (1.052 ± 0.119 g/cm2 for males versus 0.949 ± 0.108 g/cm2 for females; p < 0.01). When our data was compared to the reference database from the American and Japanese populations, it was found that Chinese women in Singapore and American women had similar BMD values and both groups had significantly higher BMD than the Japanese in both the lumbar spine and femoral neck.