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Can dermal thickness measured by ultrasound biomicroscopy assist in determining osteoporosis risk?
Perri E Cagle1, Mary Dyson, Byron Gajewski
1University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA. pcagle@kumc.edu
Background And Purpose:
A study was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between dermal thickness and bone density. Ninety-eight female subjects were recruited from a population of patients attending a university hospital osteoporosis clinic. The subject population ranged in age from 30 to 88 years with a mean age of 60. The weight range was from 91 to 274 pounds, mean 142 pounds.
Methods:
Dermal thickness measurements were taken at the right forearm using a Longport high resolution 20 MHz ultrasound scanner. Bone density measurements were taken using a GE Lunar Prodigy DXA scanner at both hips.
Results:
Statistical analysis using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of the skin measurements showed that the dermal measurement technique was highly reliable (CI=0.87, 0.92). Linear regression was used to examine the value of dermal thickness as a predictor of bone density. The correlation coefficient between dermal thickness and hip T score was statistically significant in the positive direction (corr.=0.304, P=0.001). We further investigated the relationship between dermal thickness and T scores using penalized splines.
Conclusion:
This analysis indicated that the strongest association with bone density occurred between 1.0 and 1.5 mm of dermal thickness. In those subjects identified as having osteoporosis dermal thickness measure of > or =1.04 corresponds to 4% of the subjects having osteoporosis. If dermal thickness is <1.04 then 23% have osteoporosis.
