Quantitative ultrasound at hand phalanges in adults with end-stage renal failure

The aim of this study was to assess bone status in 220 subjects with end-stage renal failure (ESRF) (146 men, mean age 53.0 +/- 13.9 years and 74 women, mean age 48.1 +/- 14.3 years). The duration of hemodialysis (durHD) and duration of renal insufficiency (durRI) were, in men, 2.6 +/- 3.8 years and 7.7 +/- 8.0 years, and, in women, 2.8 +/- 3.4 years and 9.1 +/- 7.6 years, respectively. ESRF was caused by the following reasons: chronic glomerulonephritis in 92 patients, diabetes in 52, chronic pyelonephritis in 37, polycystic kidney disease in 19, amyloidosis in 5, hypertension in 4 and unknown cause in 11. The control group consisted of 1615 normal healthy subjects (1216 women, mean age 48.1 +/- 12.1 years and 399 men, mean age 52.9 +/- 14.8 years). Mean age did not differ between patients and controls. Skeletal status was evaluated by quantitative ultrasound (US) measurements at the hand phalanges using DBM 1200 (IGEA, Italy) which measures amplitude-dependent speed of sound (Ad-SoS, m/s). The mean value of Ad-SoS in male patients was 1981 +/- 88 m/s, T-score -l2.03 +/- 1.26, Z-score -0.53 +/- 1.7 and, in female patients, 1967 +/- 96 m/s, -2.23 +/- 1.37, -1.41 +/- 1.56, respectively. Respective values in male controls were 2008 +/- 81 m/s, -1.66 +/- 1.16, -0.01 +/- 0.98 and, in female controls, 2026 +/- 81 m/s, -1.4 +/- 1.15, -0.74 +/- 0.86, and were significantly higher than in male (p < 0.001) and female (p < 0.0000001) patients. A correlation analysis of Ad-SoS with durHD and durRI showed that only in males did both factors significantly influence parameters measured (r = -0.26, p < 0.01). Multiple stepwise regression analysis of Ad-SoS on age, durHD, durRI, weight and height was possible to perform only in males and the following equation was established: Ad-SoS = 2545 m/s - 3.09 x age (years) - 5.68 x durHD (years) - 2.15 x height (cm) - 0.99 x durRI (years), p < 0.000001, r = 0.55, SEE = 69.6. Concluding, in subjects with ESRF treated with hemodialysis, skeletal status assessed with the use of quantitative US was affected.