Bone micro-architecture and determinants of strength in the radius and tibia: age-related changes in a population-based study of normal adults measured with high-resolution pQCT

Abstract

These data show contrasts in the effects of sex on the micro-architecture and strength of upper and lower limb bones with ageing. The faster decline in cortical bone thickness and density in women than men after age 50 and consistently lower trabecular bone density in women have implications for the excess risks of wrist and hip fractures in women.

Age-related patterns of trabecular and cortical bone loss differ between sexes and skeletal sites: A population-based HR-pQCT study

“…(12) To date, two studies have investigated age-related variation in HR-pQCT outcomes in women and men. (13,14) Khosla and colleagues (13) performed the earliest population-based HR-pQCT study using a prototype HR-pQCT machine (XtremeCT, Scanco Medical, Brü ttisellen, Switzerland) and reported results for the radius only. Subsequently, Dalzell and colleagues (14) used HRpQCT (XtremeCT, Scanco Medical) to assess both the distal radius and the distal tibia.…”

“…(13,14) Khosla and colleagues (13) performed the earliest population-based HR-pQCT study using a prototype HR-pQCT machine (XtremeCT, Scanco Medical, Brü ttisellen, Switzerland) and reported results for the radius only. Subsequently, Dalzell and colleagues (14) used HRpQCT (XtremeCT, Scanco Medical) to assess both the distal radius and the distal tibia. Although Dalzell and colleagues (14) provided a reference data set for both bone microarchitecture and FEAderived estimates of bone strength, the sample size across a large age range was small (n ¼ 132, 20 to 79 years) compared with that of Khosla and colleagues (n ¼ 602, 21 to 97 years).…”

“…Subsequently, Dalzell and colleagues (14) used HRpQCT (XtremeCT, Scanco Medical) to assess both the distal radius and the distal tibia. Although Dalzell and colleagues (14) provided a reference data set for both bone microarchitecture and FEAderived estimates of bone strength, the sample size across a large age range was small (n ¼ 132, 20 to 79 years) compared with that of Khosla and colleagues (n ¼ 602, 21 to 97 years). (13) Thus there is a need for a comprehensive HR-pQCT reference data set including outcomes for both the radius and tibia to establish the age-related variation in bone quality outcomes across adulthood in both women and men.…”

“…This study will provide the first HR-pQCT reference data for Canadian adults with which we can compare bone quality and strength outcomes with those reported for adults in the United States (13) and the United Kingdom. (14) Materials and Methods…”

Effects on bone geometry, density, and microarchitecture in the distal radius but not the tibia in women with primary hyperparathyroidism: A case-control study using HR-pQCT

“…Simultaneously, parameters of bone geometry and volumetric BMD (vBMD) are achieved. HR-pQCT parameters display high accuracy compared with gold standard mCT, (15) and HR-pQCT has been used clinically to gain insight into age-and genderrelated bone characteristics, (16,17) as well as bone architectural changes in diseases of bone loss such as osteopenia and osteoporosis. (14,18,19) However, the bone changes inflicted by the elevated PTH in PHPT using this technique are, to our knowledge, still to be explored.…”