title: Appendicular cortical bone loss after age 65: sex-dependent event?
abstract: Distal radius photodensitometric and second metacarpal radiogrammetric measurements were obtained from computerized analyses of standard hand X-Ray films of 296 Caucasian subjects (189 women and 107 men). This sample included 134 subjects > or = 65 years old (75 women and 59 men). Distal radius bone density and metacarpal index showed a significant linear decrease with age in both sexes. Rates of bone loss, calculated from the regression curves, were -0.7% per year in women and -0.5% per year in men by distal radial photodensitometry, and -0.49% per year in women and -0.33% per year in men by metacarpal radiogrammetry. In the elderly subgroup, women > or = 65 years of age showed an even faster bone loss, with an annual decrease of -1.4% by distal radial photodensitometry. Conversely, men > or = 65 years of age had no significant bone loss, not even by metacarpal radiogrammetry. In conclusion, these data suggest that appendicular cortical bone loss occurs at a higher rate in elderly females than in the elderly males, both at the distal radial and at the metacarpal site.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, University of Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maggio
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pacifici
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cherubini
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Aisa
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Santucci
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cucinotta
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Senin
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015519:Bone Density; D001862:Bone Resorption / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012733:Sex Differentiation