ESPE Abstracts

Background: Promotion of high pick bone mass is one of the strategies to prevent osteoporosis in adult life. Undergraduate students are still in the age group of mineral acquisition and, therefore, their lifestyle may influence this process. Physical exercise is an important lifestyle characteristic for optimize peak bone mass (PBM).

Objective: To evaluate bone mass in undergraduate students with different lifestyle.

Methods: Observational study in 142 (62 males) undergraduate students (74 medical and 68 physical education students) aged 17–28 years (22.3±2.9). Socio-demographic, clinical, and lifestyle variables were obtained through densitometric anamnesis. Bone mineral density (BMD) at lumbar spine (LS), total body (TB), femoral neck (FN) and total femur (TF) were evaluated by DXA (Explorer, Hollogic). Low PBM was defined as Z-score <−1 DP. Anthropometry was performed before the DXA examination. Statistical tests used were Student’s t-test, Mann-Whitney U and χ². Human Ethics Comity approved the study.

Results: Physical education students dispended more time doing exercise than medical students (483.0 vs 128.1 min/week). Moreover, frequency of regular practicing of physical activity (>150 min/week) was also higher in this group (95.6% vs 63.5%; P<0.01). Medical students presented higher frequency of low PBM in al sites except femoral neck (CT: 51.4% vs 85.3%; LS: 72.9% vs 91.2%; TF: 77.0% vs 92.6%; P<0.001). BMD Z-score was lower in medical students in al sites. Z-score differences varied from 0.76 in TF to 0.92 in LS (P<0.0001). High impact exercises was more frequent in physical education students (54.4% vs 33.8%; P<0.05). Students with normal PBM presented more frequency of regular practicing of physical activity than those with low PMB (71.9% vs 50.0%). There were no differences in age, gender, BMI and calcium intake between groups.

Conclusion: Higher physical exercise level was associated to high peak bone mass in undergraduate students.