Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: To show that height loss is more correlated with vetebral micoarchitecture than with Bone Mineral Density (BMD).

Material and Method: A. DEXA: made with a GE-Lunar Prodigy Pro # 500074. Vertebral microarchitecture was investigated by Trabecular Bone Score (TBS). TBS software: TBS iNsight®, version 3.0.2.0.

B. Patients. 902 patients, 844 (93.6%) women, 58 men. Only 42 under 50 years. Age average: 65.79 years. Women: 65.56 years, men 69.15 years.

C. Height measurement. At the time of DEXA analysis, each patient’s height was measured (centimetres). Patients were asked to appreciate the difference in height compared to a previous age to which they can relate.

D. Statistical analysis. Student tα test was used for differences. Linear correlation test (r) was used for correlations.

Results: 1. Diagnosis of osteoporosis. BMD scores led to the classic diagnosis of osteoporosis (score < -2.5) in only 28.38% of patients. TBS T scores suggested the diagnosis of osteoporosis in 71.95% of patients (Table). The concordant diagnosis of osteoporosis by the intersection of BMD and TBS scores occurred in only 24.06% of patients.

2. Decreasing height. a. Average: 3.58 cm. Women loss height =3.58 cm, Men loss height=3.41 cm. Individual maximum loss was 12 cm (woman, 66 y). Average maximun loss at 8th decade =7.5 cm. Minimum mean loss was at <45 years =0.8 cm. b. Correlations between height decrease and DEXA values. The correlation of the decrease in height with BMD T score was "r"=0.0724, P<0.05. The correlation of height decrease with TBS was r"=0.3592 P<0.001. The value "r" for the correlation with TBS was 4.96 times higher.

Conclusions: 1. Vertebral compression is correlated with age, higher in women than in men.2. Patients lose up to 12 cm, beginning with the 6th decade of life, maximum average in 8th decade.3. TBS is more correlated with vertebral microarchitecture and decrease in height with age compared to BMD, since the correlation “r” between TBS values and height decrease vs the correlation between height decrease and BMD is almost 5 times higher.