Bone Marrow and Muscle Fat Infiltration Are Correlated among Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis: The AMBERS Cohort Study

ABSTRACT Bone and muscle have shown to interact, but little is known about fat within bone and muscle. Clinical studies have isolated fat within bone and muscle using MRI. In this cross‐sectional study, we hypothesized that bone marrow adiposity and muscle adiposity are related and that this relationship is associated with osteoporosis. Postmenopausal women aged 60 to 85 years were recruited as part of the Appendicular Muscle and Bone Extension Research Study (AMBERS). Participants completed dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) of the hip and spine to diagnose osteoporosis. Muscle adiposity was measured with MRI at the 66% site of the leg. Fat segmentation was achieved using a semi‐automated iterative threshold‐optimizing algorithm (error