{"id":1240,"date":"2026-01-24T08:35:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T08:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/2026\/01\/24\/effect-of-thyroid-status-on-the-skeleton-in-post-menopausal-women-the-opus-study\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T08:35:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T08:35:20","slug":"effect-of-thyroid-status-on-the-skeleton-in-post-menopausal-women-the-opus-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/2026\/01\/24\/effect-of-thyroid-status-on-the-skeleton-in-post-menopausal-women-the-opus-study\/","title":{"rendered":"EFFECT OF THYROID STATUS ON THE SKELETON IN POST-MENOPAUSAL WOMEN: THE OPUS STUDY"},"content":{"rendered":"
Williams G.R. 1<\/sup>, Murphy E.1<\/sup>, Gl?er C.C.2<\/sup>, Reid M.D.3<\/sup>, Felsenberg D.4<\/sup>, Roux C.5<\/sup>, Eastell R.6<\/sup><\/div>\n
1<\/sup>Molecular Endocrinology Group, Imperial College London, London, UK, 2<\/sup>Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany, 3<\/sup>Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK, 4<\/sup>Free University, Berlin, Germany, 5<\/sup>Rene Descartes University, Paris, France, 6<\/sup>Academic Unit of Bone Metabolism, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Abstract<\/h2>\n

OPUS is a prospective cohort study of postmenopausal women from five European cities. We investigated whether TSH, fT4 and fT3 are associated with fracture, bone mineral density (BMD), bone formation (osteocalcin, procollagen type 1 N-terminal propeptide), bone resorption (telopeptides of type 1 collagen, NTX, CTX), grip strength and balance. Vertebral fractures were determined at baseline and 6 years follow-up. Using strict exclusion criteria we defined a normal reference range for thyroid function tests (TFTs).
Results: In the whole population adjusted for age and body mass index (n=2374), higher fT4 levels were associated with higher NTX (r=0.069, P<0.05) and CTX (r=0.066, P><0.05), and with lower BMD at hip (r=−0.089, P><0.05) and spine (r=−0.061, P><0.05). The associations with NTX (r=0.049, P><0.05) and spine BMD (r=−0.049, P><0.05) persisted after thyroid disease, sick euthyroid syndrome and medications affecting TFTs were excluded (n=1754). Hierarchical multiple regression revealed fT4 was associated with spine BMD (β=−0.067, P=0.011). Higher TSH was inversely associated with NTX (r=−0.155, P><0.05) and CTX (r=−0.066, P><0.05) but TSH was not associated with BMD or fracture. Within the reference range, higher fT3 was associated with better balance (r=0.099, P><0.005; fT3 highest versus lowest quintile ANOVA F=4.262, P=0.03) and increased grip strength (r=0.195, P><0.005; F=11.572, P><0.0005). TSH was inversely associated with balance (r=−0.102, P><0.05) and grip strength (r=−0.080, P><0.05).
Conclusions: In postmenopausal women, the relationship between thyroid function and fracture is complex. Higher fT4 levels within the normal range are associated with reduced BMD. In contrast, low fT3 levels are associated with poorer balance and reduced muscle strength, both of which are potential risk factors for falls and fractu<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Williams G.R. 1, Murphy E.1, Gl?er C.C.2, Reid M.D.3, Felsenberg D.4, Roux C.5, Eastell R.6 1Molecular Endocrinology Group, Imperial College London, London, UK, 2Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany, 3Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK, 4Free University, Berlin, Germany, 5Rene Descartes University, Paris, France, 6Academic Unit of Bone Metabolism, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,2,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-volume-7-issue-3","category-journal-articles","category-volume-7"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceful-mccarthy.213-158-90-25.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}