A meta-analysis of the value of MRI-based VBQ scores for evaluating osteoporosis.

OBJECTIVE

Osteoporosis is the most common skeletal disease in humans. Early onset of osteoporosis is usually asymptomatic, so early diagnosis is critical. The purpose of this study was to analyze the value of MRI-based VBQ scores for evaluating osteoporosis.

METHODS

We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library databases, Web of Science, and some Chinese electronic databases for published articles and the ClinicalTrials.gov site for completed but unpublished studies on evaluating the value of MRI-based VBQ scores for evaluating osteoporosis. We calculated the summarized sensitivity, specificity, the ROC curve (AUC) values and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using MetaDiSc 1.4 software and STATA.

RESULTS

Our study included 8 studies involving 999 patients of which 660 patients were diagnosed with osteopenia/osteoporosis, and 339 patients were identified as having normal BMD. The pooled sensitivity was 0.809 (95% CI, 0.777-0.838,  = 78.8%), the pooled specificity was 0.640 (95% CI, 0.587-0.691,  = 85.9%), and the pooled AUC was 0.8375.

CONCLUSION

MRI-based VBQ scores provided high sensitivity and moderate specificity in detecting osteoporosis. Opportunistic use of VBQ scores could be considered, e.g. before lumbar spine surgery.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42022377024.