Value of the history in diagnosis of histological osteomalacia among Asians presenting to the NHS.

A questionnaire screening for osteomalacia was used to obtain histories from 53 consecutive Asian patients referred to a gastroenterology unit. 15 of the patients were found to have osteomalacia on subsequent histology. The questions that best distinguished between osteomalacic and non-osteomalacic patients were identified by discriminant analysis. These questions were used to derive discriminant functions by which a second sample of 45 Asian patients presenting to other parts of the National Health Service were classified as osteomalacic or non-osteomalacic. Bone histology showed false-negative and false-positive rates of 10% and 11%; the predictive value of the negative result was 97%. A short questionnaire would be a cheaper and more convenient method than biochemical screening for osteomalacia case-finding among Asian patients presenting to the NHS.