Longitudinal patterns of abdominal visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue, total body composition, and anthropometric measures in postmenopausal women: Results from the Women's Health Initiative.

Background: Abdominal adiposity, including visceral and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (VAT and SAT), is recognized as a strong risk factor for cardiometabolic disease, cancer, and mortality.

Objective: The primary aim of this analysis is to describe longitudinal patterns of change in abdominal adipose tissue in postmenopausal women, overall and stratified by age, race/ethnicity, and years since menopause.

Methods: The data are from six years of follow up on 10,184 postmenopausal women (7828 non-Hispanic White women, 1423 non-Hispanic Black women, and 703 Hispanic women) who participated in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI).

Genetic Variant in ACVR2B Is Associated with Lean Mass.

Introduction: Low lean mass (LM) is a risk factor for chronic disease, a major cause of disability and diminished quality of life, and is a heritable trait. However, relatively few specific genetic factors have been identified as potentially influencing this trait.

Methods: In this study, we selected 1493 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in 155 candidate genes involved in anabolic, catabolic, growth hormone, and other related pathways and examined their association with LM, assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, in a sample of 2760 non-Hispanic and Hispanic white postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study.

Risk of Mortality According to Body Mass Index and Body Composition Among Postmenopausal Women.

Obesity, often defined as a body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)(2)) of 30 or higher, has been associated with mortality, but age-related body composition changes can be masked by stable BMI. A subset of Women's Health Initiative participants (postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years) enrolled between 1993 and 1998 who had received dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans for estimation of total body fat (TBF) and lean body mass (LBM) (n = 10,525) were followed for 13.6 (standard deviation, 4.

The relationship between incidence of fractures and anemia in older multiethnic women.

Objectives: To prospectively examine the relationship between anemia and incident fractures of the hip, spine, and all skeletal sites in women from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study and Clinical Trials.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Forty WHI clinical centers across the United States.

Confounders in the association between exercise and femur bone in postmenopausal women.

Introduction: Abundant animal and human evidence demonstrates that loading stimuli generate positive adaptive changes in bone, but effects of activity on bone mineral density (BMD) are often modest and frequently equivocal.

Hypothesis: Physical activity effects on the femur would be better reflected in measurements of geometry than BMD.

Study Design: Cross-sectional cohort study.