Ofluoglu Demet, Unlu Feyza, Akyuz Gulseren
PM&R Department, Marmara University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
Rheumatol Int. 2008 Jun;28(8):737-41. doi: 10.1007/s00296-007-0516-1. Epub 2008 Jan 3.
Osteoporosis is a progressive systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone density and microarchitectural deterioration of the bone. A minimum 3-cm difference between arm span and height makes up one of the criteria for suspecting osteoporosis. Therefore, it is easy to determine osteoporotic women by measuring the proportion of height to the arm span. The purposes of this study are to assess the relationship between arm span and height and to compare them in postmenopausal and young healthy women. This was a randomized-controlled, prospective study. There were two groups in this study. Group I included 70 postmenopausal osteoporotic women and group II had 70 healthy young women. Height, weight and arm span of the individuals were measured in all subjects. Bone mineral density and radiological examination of spine were also evaluated. Mean age of postmenopausal women was 64.4 +/- 8.6 years and it was 27.3 +/- 3.5 years in young healthy women. Mean height was 152 +/- 5.1 and 161.5 +/- 5.9 cm in group I and II, respectively. Mean arm span length was 159.6 +/- 6.3 cm in postmenopausal women and 163.5 +/- 6 cm in young healthy women. Mean arm span-height difference was significantly higher in postmenopausal women when compared to healthy young women (7.7 +/- 3.6 and 2 +/- 2.9 cm, respectively, P < 0.001). We suggest that arm span measurements can be used in the estimation of youth height and age-related loss in stature in postmenopausal women.
骨质疏松症是一种进行性全身性骨骼疾病，其特征是骨密度低和骨微结构恶化。臂展与身高相差至少3厘米是怀疑患有骨质疏松症的标准之一。因此，通过测量身高与臂展的比例很容易确定骨质疏松症女性。本研究的目的是评估臂展与身高之间的关系，并在绝经后和年轻健康女性中对它们进行比较。这是一项随机对照前瞻性研究。本研究中有两组。第一组包括70名绝经后骨质疏松症女性，第二组有70名健康年轻女性。测量了所有受试者的身高、体重和臂展。还评估了骨密度和脊柱的放射学检查。绝经后女性的平均年龄为64.4±8.6岁，年轻健康女性为27.3±3.5岁。第一组和第二组的平均身高分别为152±5.1厘米和161.5±5.9厘米。绝经后女性的平均臂展长度为159.6±6.3厘米，年轻健康女性为163.5±6厘米。与健康年轻女性相比，绝经后女性的平均臂展-身高差值显著更高（分别为7.7±3.6厘米和2±2.9厘米，P<0.001）。我们建议，臂展测量可用于估计绝经后女性的年轻时身高以及与年龄相关的身高损失。
