title: Do Australian women have greater spinal bone density than North American women?
abstract: The interpretation of bone mineral densitometry results for a particular individual relies on valid reference data from a representative population sample. To establish local reference data, 411 Australian female volunteers had bone mineral densitometry performed at a single medical centre at the proximal femur and lumbar spine using a Hologic QDR 1000-W dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer. These data were compared with reference material from North American women compiled by Hologic. The Australian volunteers had, on average, 7% greater bone mineral density at the lumbar spine for the age range 25-55 years. Possible explanations for this include an actual population difference or the presence of a differential selection bias between the two samples.
authors.affiliation: University of Melbourne Department of Medicine, Parkville, Australia.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Flicker
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaymakci
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lichtenstein
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Buirski
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wark
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D015519:Bone Density; D005260:Female; D005272:Femur Neck / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008161:Lumbosacral Region; D008875:Middle Aged; D009656:North America; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013131:Spine / Q000378:metabolism*