Comparison of Singh index accuracy and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry bone mineral density measurement for evaluating osteoporosis

The Singh index is an inexpensive simple method to evaluate bone density, commonly used to assess osteoporosis is based on the radiological appearance of the trabecular bone structure of the proximal femur on a plain antero-posterior [AP] radiograph. The purpose of this study was to compare between Singh index and bone mineral density measurement using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry [DXA]. Three orthopedists evaluated radiographs of 72 patients suspected with osteoporosis. The inter-observer agreements of the Singh index were obtained by using kappa statistics. The bone mineral density [BMD] of proximal femur was measured by DXA in all patients, and then the BMD results were compared with those of Singh index by using reference radiographic charts of the Singh index method. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to measure bone mineral density. A Norland XR46 system was used for the investigations. The inter-observer agreement kappa values were 0.01, 0.07 and 0.09 [mean value: 0.05] and the strength of the observer agreements was negligible. The obtained osteoporosis prevalence among the studied patients was 38.9%.The inter-observer variation was large, there was no any correlation between the Singh index and bone densitometry. So, the index cannot be used; for evaluating and osteoporosis diagnosis, because of its low reliability

Assessment of bone mineral density with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry in pre- and post-menopausal women

Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that contributes substantially to decrease physical activity and decline in the quality of life. Osteoporosis can be diagnosed easily with the use of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry [DXA] equipment. The aim of this study was to investigate the magnitude of bone loss on proximal femur and lumbar spine LS in pre- and post-menopausal women from Isfahan Osteoporosis Diagnosis Center [IODC] since 2005. Bone mineral density [BMD] measurements using DXA have been performed at IODC. 185 pre-menopausal and 174 early post-menopausal women were selected randomly. A Norland XR46 system was used for the investigations. The student t-test was done to find the difference between the T-scores of the femoral neck [FN] and lumbar spine [LS] in pre- and post-menopausal women. Mean BMDs for the FN and LS in pre-menopausal women were 0.859 +/- 0.136 and 1.012 +/- 0.161 and in post-menopausal women were 0.816 +/- 0.119 and 0.919 +/- 0.140, respectively. Long-term BMD CVs of 1.0% and 1.2% for the LS and FN were found, respectively. The differences between the FN and LS for pre- and post-menopausal women were t = - 9.02, p < 0.05 and t = -3.50, p < 0.05, respectively. In spite of, the reported lower BMD T-scores for the LS compared with the FN for women, we found that the FN had significantly lower T-score than LS for both pre- and post-menopausal women