An osteoporosis screening tool for Chinese men

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Medical Diagnostics
• Public Health

Background:

• Osteoporosis screening tools are available for women, but not for men.
• Validated instruments are needed to identify men requiring bone densitometry (DXA).

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a Male Osteoporosis Screening Tool (MOST) for Chinese men aged 65 and above.
• To identify key risk factors for osteoporosis in this demographic.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 2,000 ambulatory Chinese men (aged 65+) in Hong Kong.
• Utilized dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for bone density measurements.
• Employed logistic regression and ROC analysis on a training sample (60%) to develop MOST, validating on the remaining 40%.

Main Results:

• Body weight and quantitative ultrasound index (QUI) were significant predictors.
• The MOST achieved an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.823 (training) and 0.839 (validation).
• A cutoff score of 3 yielded 94% sensitivity and 46% specificity, with a 97.5% negative predictive value.

Conclusions:

• The MOST is a valuable tool for screening osteoporosis risk in Chinese men.
• It can help prioritize DXA screening, potentially saving resources.
• MOST complements DXA, aiding in efficient allocation for men at higher risk.