Quantitative Ultrasound Criteria for Risk Stratification in Clinical Practice: A Comparative Assessment

This study aimed to compare two different classifications of the risk of fracture/osteoporosis (OP) based on quantitative ultrasound (QUS). Analyses were based on data from the Epidemiological Study on the Prevalence of Osteoporosis, a cross-sectional study conducted in 2000 aimed at assessing the risk of OP in a representative sample of the Italian population. Subjects were classified into 5 groups considering the cross-classification found in previous studies; logistic regression models were defined separately for women and men to study the fracture risk attributable to groups defined by the cross-classification, adjusting for traditional risk factors. Eight-thousand six-hundred eighty-one subjects were considered in the analyses. Logistic regression models revealed that the two classifications seem to be able to identify a common core of individuals at low and at high risk of fractures, and the importance of a multidimensional assessment in older patients to evaluate clinical risk factors together with a simple, inexpensive, radiation-free device such as QUS.