Contribution of lean tissue mass to the urban-rural difference in bone mineral density.

While the urban-rural difference in bone mineral density (BMD) has been shown in some, but not all, Western populations, such a difference and the reason for the difference is largely unknown, particularly in developing countries. This cross-sectional, epidemiologic study was designed to examine the hypothesis that differences in measures of body composition such as lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) contribute to the urban-rural difference in BMD. Lean mass, fat mass, lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD were measured by DXA (GE Lunar Corp, Wis.