title: Assessment of osteopenia from spine radiographs using two different methods: the Chingford Study.
abstract: Two methods for diagnosing radiological osteopenia in thoracic (TS) and lumbar (LS) spine radiographs were assessed: a subjective conventional method (A) and a semiquantitative method (B), by comparing them with bone mineral density (BMD) measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), in a population of "normal" women aged 45-70 years (n = 818). For both methods there was good intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility. BMDs were significantly lower with increasing radiological osteopenia grades (p < 0.001), and remained lower after adjustment for age and body mass index (p < 0.01). The proportion of subjects with DEXA-defined osteoporosis rose with increasing radiological osteopenia grades for both methods. The worst osteopenia categories identified 29.7-55.3% of women with DEXA-defined osteoporosis, compared with 6.1-11.7% in the "normal" categories. Both methods, however, showed a large degree of overlap of BMDs between the various radiological osteopenia grades. The sensitivity and specificity of method A in diagnosing osteoporosis were 45.3% and 78.4%, respectively, for the TS and 19.0% and 94.3%, respectively, for the LS. For method B the sensitivities and specificities were 8.8% and 96.1%, respectively (TS), and 10.2% and 95.6%, respectively (LS). Although both methods have poor sensitivities, "definite" or "high" grade osteopenia should be an indication for bone densitometry. The high specificities suggest that a "normal" (no osteopenia) X-ray is unlikely to have a significantly low BMD.
authors.affiliation: City Hospital NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masud
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mootoosamy
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: McCloskey
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Whitby
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Matson
authors.forename: D V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Spector
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D015519:Bone Density; D001851:Bone Diseases, Metabolic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013131:Spine / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*