Premium
Morphometric Dual‐Energy X‐Ray Absorptiometry of the Spine: Report of a Large Series and Correlation with Axial Bone Mineral Density
Author(s) -
Bianco Antonio C.,
Malvestiti Luiz F.,
Gouveia Cecilia H. A.,
Wehba Salim,
Lewin Shlomo,
Marone Marilia M. S.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of bone and mineral research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.882
H-Index - 241
eISSN - 1523-4681
pISSN - 0884-0431
DOI - 10.1359/jbmr.1999.14.9.1605
Subject(s) - medicine , bone mineral , osteoporosis , femoral neck , dual energy x ray absorptiometry , femur , nuclear medicine , densitometry , bone density , population , anatomy , surgery , environmental health
We studied vertebral morphometry and its relation to bone mineral density (BMD) in normal Brazilian women ( n = 605). All women (age 22–97 years) were ambulatory and healthy. A lateral spine scan was done for morphometric X‐ray absorptiometry using an imaging densitometer. In 429 of these women, BMD of the spine and proximal femur also were measured using dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry. All women were white with mean (± 1 SD) age of 53.7 (± 9.5) years. About 21% of the women over 50 years had a T score for spine BMD lower than –2.5 SD, and 7% had a femoral neck BMD below this osteoporosis threshold. Vertebral heights (anterior, H A ; middle, H M ; and posterior, H P ) and ratios (H A /H P and H M /H P ) were assessed. There was no systematic difference between younger (20–49 years) and older (50+ years) women in heights or ratios. The vertebral heights were normalized for those observed in each individual case for the L2–L4 sequence. This normalization was adequate for all vertebral heights; the Z score averaged about +0.1. The average Z score for H A /H P was +0.01, but that for the H M /H P was −0.72, indicating that the latter ratio might differ from the reference population used (white American and European women). We observed a small positive correlation between vertebral heights and spine or femur BMD, but this was due entirely to the influence of body size on BMD. On a group basis, the H M /H P showed a significant association with axial BMD; the 1 SD difference between the lowest and highest quartile was associated with a difference of 8–15% (0.5–1.0 SD) in axial BMD.