title: Raman Spectroscopic Analysis of Fingernail Clippings Can Help Differentiate Between Postmenopausal Women Who Have and Have Not Suffered a Fracture.
abstract: Raman spectroscopy was applied to nail clippings from 633 postmenopausal British and Irish women, from six clinical sites, of whom 42% had experienced a fragility fracture. The objective was to build a prediction algorithm for fracture using data from four sites (known as the calibration set) and test its performance using data from the other two sites (known as the validation set). Results from the validation set showed that a novel algorithm, combining spectroscopy data with clinical data, provided area under the curve (AUC) of 74% compared to an AUC of 60% from a reduced QFracture score (a clinically accepted risk calculator) and 61% from the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry T-score, which is in current use for the diagnosis of osteoporosis. Raman spectroscopy should be investigated further as a noninvasive tool for the early detection of enhanced risk of fragility fracture.
authors.affiliation: Research and Development, Exploristics Limited, Belfast, UK.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Beattie
authors.affiliation: Centre for Interventions in Infection, Inflammation and Immunity (4i), Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: Niamh M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Cummins
authors.affiliation: ICON Plc, Leopardstown, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caraher
authors.affiliation: Medical Engineering Design & Innovation Centre, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Olive M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: O'Driscoll
authors.affiliation: Acclarogen Ltd, St John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Aruna T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Bansal
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Bone Metabolism, Metabolic Bone Centre, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Eastell
authors.affiliation: School of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Stuart H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Ralston
authors.affiliation: Bone Research Unit, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.affiliation: Osteoporosis Centre, University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Gill
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.; Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Towler
keywords: DEXA; Fracture risk; QFracture; Raman spectroscopy; bone; osteoporosis