Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) has evolved from pencil-beam (PB) to narrow fan-beam (FB) densitometers. We performed a meta-analysis of the available observational studies to determine how different modes of DXA affect bone mineral density (BMD) measurements.
A total of 1,233 patients (808 women) from 14 cohort studies were included. We evaluated the differences in BMD according to the DXA mode: PB and FB. Additionally, we evaluated the differences in BMD between the 2 types of FB mode: FB (Prodigy) and the most recent FB (iDXA). Pairwise meta-analysis was performed, and weighted mean differences (WMD) were calculated for (total lumbar, total hip, and total body).
No significant difference was observed in total lumbar (pooled WMD, −0.013; P=0.152) and total hip BMD (pooled WMD, −0.01; P=0.889), between PB and FB. However, total body BMD was significantly lower in the PB compared to the FB group (pooled WMD, −0.014; P=0.024). No significant difference was observed in lumbar BMD (pooled WMD, −0.006; P=0.567), total hip (pooled WMD, −0.002; P=0.821), and total body (pooled WMD, 0.015; P=0.109), between Prodigy and iDXA.