Abstract

PURPOSE
This study were to investigate BMD of middle-aged women and to examine the relationships between BMD and Physical, Obstetric characteristics METHOD: The data was collected from 119 healthy women who were 40-60 years old. they were examined for BMD at 4 regions(forearm, lumbar, femur, whole body), %fat by DEXA and investigated physical, obstetric characteristics using scale, questionnaire from January to March, 2001.
RESULT
1) According to bone diagnostic results by WHO classification, 95.8% of forearm and whole body BMD were normal but 21.8-48.7% of lumbar and femur BMD(neck, trochanter, ward's triangle) were diagnosed osteoporosis or osteopnea. 2) The bones were significantly positive correlations of each other (r=.19-.69, p=.04-.00) and there were significant correlations between BMD and physical, obstetric characteristics such as age (r=-.22, p=.02), weight(r=.36~.48, p=.00), height(r=.22, p=.02), %fat(r=.19, p=.04) and age of first delivery(r=-.28, p=.00).
CONCLUSION
Based on this study, healthy middle-aged women were also exposed to risk of osteoporosis related to aging, change of physical conditions or hormonal release. Further research to develop nursing interventions for the purpose of preventing osteoporosis by modifying risk factors is suggested.

• Keywords: Osteoporosis; Bone Mineral Density(BMD)