Relationship Between Prepatellar Fat Thickness and Bone Mineral Density

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between bone mineral density (BMD) by measuring the prepatellar fat thickness with knee radiography and to gain a measurement method that has not been done before in the literature. Study Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Training and Research Hospital, Sanliurfa, Turkiye, between January and June 2020. Methodology: Patients' age, body mass index (BMI) data, prepatellar fat thickness (mm), L1 -L4 total, bone mineral density femoral neck, femur trochanter major, and femur total T scores were recorded. The relationships between these three groups (normal, osteopenia, osteoporosis) and between prepatellar fat tissue measurement were evaluated. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Post Hoc Tukey tests were used in the analysis. Results: A statistically significant difference was found in terms of trochanter major T score measurements (X-2 = 20.435; p <0.001) and BMI (X-2 = 66.535; p <0.001) measurements of prepatellar fat thickness measurement. A statistically significant difference was found between the three groups in terms of prepatellar fat thickness measurement, L1-4 T -score, femoral neck, and femur total values (p <0.001). Conclusion: Prepatellar fat thickness in postmenopausal Turkish women was positively correlated with BMD; BMD increases as the prepatellar fat thickness increases. This explains that perapatellar fat thickness creates a mechanical load on the bones and causes an increase in BMD.