[Measurement of tibia bone content and fracture threshold by quantitative ultrasonography in normal and fractured women in Taiyuan].

OBJECTIVE

To establish the reference range of tibia bone content in normal female of Taiyuan area and to explore the diagnostic criterion for osteoporotic fracture threshold by quantitative ultrasonography (QUS).

METHODS

The tibia bone contents (QUS value) of 1,681 normal women (aged 7-92 years) and 63 fractured women (aged 46-91) in Taiyuan were measured by QUS.

RESULTS

The QUS value increased with age in normal women before age 30, and peaked at age 30-40, then decreased and reached significance after age 50. There was a negative correlation between QUS value and duration after menopause (P < 0.01). Taken the mean QUS value of normal female aged 20-40 years minus 2.5 s (3,667 m/s) as a cutoff threshold, 93.7% of the 63 fractured women had their QUS value below this threshold.

CONCLUSION

It is suggested that the above cutoff QUS value may be considered as the risk threshold of osteoporotic fracture in women.