Evaluation of one third of distal radius bone density in patients with primary osteoporosis

Background: Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic disease of the bone in the world, and has hit about 200 million people around the world and it increases the risk of fractures. More than 5 million osteoporotic fractures occur annually in the world. Bone mineral density is the standard method of diagnosis of this disease. In this method, proximal of femur (neck) and lumbar vertebra bones (L2, L3, L4, L5) are typically evaluated. The aim of this study was determine the bone density profile of one third of distal radial bone in patients with primary osteoporosis. Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted at Shahid Beheshi hospital in Hamadan city, from October 2015 to October 2016. Among of the patients, those over the age of 50 years old, 71 patients were selected by convenience sampling method taking into account if they have inclusion criteria (such as: age> 50 years, no systemic diseases, no history of corticosteroid use). For all patients that enter the study, lumbar, femoral neck and one third of distal radial bone densitometry was done by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) method. Osteopenia and normal bone density the World Health Organization criteria were used to determine osteoporosis. Results: In this research 71 people entered the study. The mean age of the patients was 62.25±9.36 (51-92) years. In term of gender 5.63% of patients were male and 94.37% female. Pearson correlation coefficient showed a positive and significant correlation between the results of one third of distal radius with neck and total femur bone and lumbar bones (P<0.05). Correlation between the T-score of one third of distal radius and total femoral neck was statistically significant (P<0.05). The mean age of patients was 62.25±9.36 years. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study one third of distal radial bone mineral density has an acceptable sensitivity to detect osteoporosis. Radius bone density decreases much faster than lumbar, vertebra and femoral neck.