Age related trends of the indices of hip structure help understanding how bone strength changes with age and the increased bone fragility in old age. Community-dwelling women aged 20-70years (n = 419) were selected by stratified random method and divided into age categories; 20-29years (n-69), 30-39years (n = 60), 40-49years (n = 69), 50-59years (n = 107) and 60-70years (n = 114). All subjects underwent dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and hip structure analysis using Hologic Discovery scanner (Hologic Inc, Bedford, USA). Measured indices included hip axis length (HAL) and neck shaft angle (NSA) of the proximal femur. Cross sectional area (CSA), cross sectional moment of inertia (CSMI), section modulus (SM), cortical thickness (CT), buckling ration (BR) of three regions of interest; narrow neck, intertrochanteric region and femoral shaft, were also measured. Age related trends of all indices were studied with Locally Weighted Scatterplot Smoothing lines (LOESS) and ANOVA. Mean HAL and NSA values were not different between age categories. CSA, CSMI, SM and CT in three different regions showed curvilinear relationships with age. These indices gradually increased with age between 20-50 years and the maximum values were seen in the 40-49years age category and they declined afterwards. The decline of these indices was more rapid in the narrow neck and intertrochanter regions when compared with femoral shaft and the lowest mean CSA, CSMI, SM and CT in these two regions were seen in the 60-70 age category. BR showed a gradual decrease with age between 20-50 years and the lowest mean value was seen in the 40-49 age category. BR increased afterwards and the maximum mean value was seen in the 60-70 age category. This study demonstrates the dynamics of structural properties of proximal femur in the three selected cross sections of community-dwelling women aged 20-70 years and the increased bone fragility in old age.

髋关节结构指标的年龄相关趋势有助于了解骨强度如何随年龄变化以及老年时骨脆性增加。 采用分层随机方法选取20-70岁的社区女性（n =419），按年龄分组；20-29岁（n-69）、30-39岁（n  =60）、40-49岁（n  =69）、50-59岁（n  =107）和60-70岁（n  =114）。所有受试者均使用 Hologic Discovery 扫描仪（Hologic Inc, Bedford, USA）进行双能 X 射线吸收测定 (DXA) 和髋关节结构分析。测量的指标包括股骨近端的髋轴长度 (HAL) 和颈干角 (NSA). 三个感兴趣区域的横截面积（CSA）、横截面惯性矩（CSMI）、截面模量（SM）、皮质厚度（CT）、屈曲比（BR）；还测量了窄颈、转子间区域和股骨干。使用局部加权散点图平滑线 (LOESS) 和方差分析研究所有指数的年龄相关趋势。平均 HAL 和 NSA 值在不同年龄组之间没有差异。三个不同地区的CSA、CSMI、SM和CT与年龄呈曲线关系。这些指数在20-50岁之间随年龄增长逐渐增加，最大值出现在40-49岁年龄段，之后逐渐下降。与股骨干和最低平均 CSA、CSMI、这两个地区的 SM 和 CT 均出现在 60-70 岁年龄段。BR 在 20-50 岁之间随着年龄的增长逐渐下降，最低的平均值出现在 40-49 岁年龄段。BR 之后增加，并且在 60-70 岁年龄组中看到最大平均值。本研究展示了 20-70 岁社区女性的三个选定横截面中股骨近端结构特性的动态变化以及老年骨脆性增加。