title: Bone ultrasonic attenuation in women: reproducibility, normal variation and comparison with photon absorptiometry.
abstract: The reproducibility of two methods of measuring broadband ultrasonic attenuation (BUA) in the calcaneus have been studied. An improvement in reproducibility in vivo from 9.6% to 2.8% between old and new techniques has been observed. Measurements of the calcaneus using BUA were correlated with measurements of bone mineral density measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry in the lumbar spine, femur and total body and bone mineral content in the distal and proximal forearm measured by single photon absorptiometry. For the older BUA technique the correlation coefficients ranged between r = 0.27 and r = 0.34. For the newer BUA technique the correlation coefficients ranged between r = 0.49 and r = 0.62 and were all significant (P less than 0.001).
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Leeds, General Infirmary, UK.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Truscott
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Milner
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Westmacott
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Oldroyd
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Horsman
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Langston
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015519:Bone Density; D002111:Calcaneus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods