title: Comparison of short-term in vivo precision of bone density and microarchitecture at the distal radius and tibia between postmenopausal women and young adults.
abstract: The purpose was to assess whether precision of bone properties derived via the use of high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) differs between postmenopausal women and young adults. Using HR-pQCT, we scanned the distal radius and tibia at 2 time points in 34 postmenopausal women (74 ± 7 years) and 30 young adults (mean age ± SD: 27 ± 9 years). Standard protocols were used to acquire bone area, density, and microarchitectural properties. We calculated coefficients of variation (CV; percentage CV and percentage CV of the root mean square) and 95% limits of agreement (95% LOA) to assess precision errors. The 95% LOA is the magnitude of individual change needed to be observed to ensure that a real change has occurred. Multiple Mann-Whitney U-tests (with the use of Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons) were used to compare percentage CV between the 2 groups. Significance was set to p < 0.004. All standard outcome variables were not significantly different between the groups. The 95% LOA confirmed that the measurement bias between the groups did not differ. These results suggest that short-term precision errors in HR-pQCT-derived bone outcomes are similar between postmenopausal women and young adults.
authors.affiliation: College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Electronic address: chantal.kawalilak@usask.ca.
authors.forename: Chantal E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Kawalilak
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: Osteoporosis Centre, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: Wojciech P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Olszynski
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Health Region, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Leswick
authors.affiliation: College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: Saija A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kontulainen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology*; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017698:Postmenopause; D011884:Radius / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013977:Tibia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Coefficient of variation; HR-pQCT; distal radius and tibia; microarchitecture; reproducibility