The differences of femoral neck geometric parameters: effects of age, gender and race.
This study aims at investigating the effects of age, sex, and ethnicity on five femoral neck geometric parameters (FNGPs): femoral neck periosteal diameter, cross-sectional area, cortical thickness, sectional modulus, and buckling ratio and found that the three factors would influence the FNGPs.


BACKGROUND
Bone geometry is one of the most important predictors of bone strength and osteoporotic fractures. This study aims at investigating the effects of age, sex, and ethnicity on five femoral neck geometric parameters (FNGPs): femoral neck periosteal diameter (W), cross-sectional area (CSA), cortical thickness (CT), sectional modulus (Z), and buckling ratio (BR).


METHODS
In the studied 861 Caucasian subjects and 3,021 Chinese individuals, CSA, CT, and Z displayed trends of decrease with age, but W and BR showed increasing trends with age in both Chinese and Caucasian females and males (p < 0.05). W, CSA, CT, and Z were significantly higher (p <or= 0.001) in Caucasians than in Chinese and higher in males than in females except for BR between Chinese males and Chinese females.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, the differences of FNGPs according to gender and ethnicity provide important implications in the different prevalence of osteoporotic fracture among different gender and ethnic groups.
Zhang
F
F
Laboratory of Molecular and Statistical Genetics, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, 410081, People's Republic of China.
Tan
L-J
LJ
Lei
S-F
SF
Deng
H-W
HW
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005272:Femur Neck / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult