Normal data for lumbar spine bone mineral content in healthy Chinese men

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of age on bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine for healthy Chinese men. In 430 healthy Chinese men (ages 20-92 years) living on Taiwan, BMD at the level of the 2nd to 4th lumbar vertebraes (L2-L4) was determined with a commercial dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer (DXA). Our study found that the peak BMD value of lumbar spines of healthy Chinese men was 1.056 +/- 0.127 g/cm(2) which occurs from age 20 to 29. The results show that a linear correlation between the age and BMD of lumbar vertebraes for healthy Chinese is notable. Only slight decreases of BMD values in the different age groups are found, In comparison with the normal data of white men and Asian men from Japan and Korea, the mean BMD values of lumbar spines of Chinese men seem to be lower than those of the white, Japanese, and Korean men of the same ages. Our findings indicate that the influence of age and ethnicity may exist in the BMD values for healthy Chinese males.