[Role of bone ultrasound in predicting hip fracture risk in women 70 years or older: results of the SEMOF study and comparison with literature data].

Because of the high morbidity and mortality associated with osteoporotic fractures, it is essential to detect subjects at risk for such fractures with screening methods. For this purpose, quantitative bone ultrasound (QUS) could be more practical than DXA, because QUS is a transportable, and low cost method. Heel QUS showed that they were predictive of hip fracture risk in elderly women aged 65 years and over, independently of femoral neck DXA. The SEMOF study is a multicenter prospective study which compare the predictive value of hip fracture risk of two heel QUS (Ahilles+, and Sahara), and of one phalanges QUS (DBM sonic 1200) in a population of 7062 Swiss women aged 70 years and over. During the three year follow-up, 80 hip fractures where reported. A decrease of -1 SD of the ultrasonic parameters of the heel was associated to a increase of hip fracture risk of 2.5 times. On the other side, the phalanges QUS was not predictive of hip fracture risk in this population of elderly women. In conclusion, heel QUS represent an important predictive risk factor of fracture. Their integration in a screening strategy, in association with other risk factors should be interesting in order to define an absolute global fracture risk for a given period.