a study of bone mineral density in diabetes mellitus in iranian women

background: in view of the current high prevalence of diabetes mellitus (dm) and osteoporosis, today there is great inter est in studying the possible association between these two disorders. the aim of this study was to determine the association be tween type-2 dm, and bone mineral density (bmd) in iranian women. methods: bmd was determined in the femoral neck and at the l2-l4 level (dexa) 0f 518 women aged 40-80 years old, re ferred to bone densitometry unit of endocrinology and metabolism research center of tehran university of medical sci ences (146 patients with type 2 diabetes and 372 normal controls). results: in diabetics patients, bmd values at the vertebral site were higher than non-diabetic patients but the difference was only significant in postmenopausal subgroup (p= 0.045). besides, bmd values at the hip site were higher when com pared with non-diabetes group, but the difference was not significant. frequency of osteoporosis risk factors (tea consump tion, sunlight exposure, late menarche, low physical activity, smoking habits, family history of osteoporosis and inadequate cal cium intake) were not significantly different between diabetic and non-diabetic women , but prevalence of early meno pause was higher in diabetic women (p= 0.046). prevalence of osteoporosis in premenopausal and postmenopausal was 7% and 41.6% in diabetic and 15% and 36.8% in non-diabetic women, respectively. prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia was not significantly different in diabetic and non-diabetic groups. conclusion: the present results demonstrate that there is not clear association between bmd and type 2 diabetes mellitus.