The Assessment of the Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool for Asians and Calcaneal Quantitative Ultrasound in Identifying Osteoporotic Fractures and Falls Among Chinese People

The lack of DXA has made the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis extremely difficult in the vast rural areas of China, which has the largest population with high risks of osteoporosis. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to evaluate the association between the osteoporosis self-assessment tool for Asians (OSTA) and calcaneus quantitative ultrasound (QUS) in populations residing in Shanghai, China, and their assessment in predicting osteoporotic fractures and falls. A population of 12,033 participants, including 1272 males (average age 68.3 ± 9.8 years, range 28–100 years) and 10,761 females (average 56.8 ± 11.4 years, range 23–99 years), was gathered. OSTA and calcaneus QUS (Sonost 2000, OsteoSys) values were measured. Spearman’s correlation and Cohen’s kappa were used to determine the association and agreement between the OSTA and QUS. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were adapted to assess the performance and optimal cutoff values for the OSTA and QUS in osteoporotic fracture and fall screening. In total, the prevalence of osteoporotic fractures (low-trauma fractures including fractures of the spine, hip, forearm, humerus and ribs) was 15.2% in women, and 17.7% reported a history of falls (falling from standing height more than once in the past year). The percentages of men with the same history were 8.4% and 11.7%, respectively. The association between the OSTA and QUS was found to be r _s = 0.393, κ = 0.137, p < 0.001. The OSTA (cutoff < −1) revealed an area under ROC curve (AUC) of 0.590 in identifying female individuals with moderate or high risk of osteoporosis defined by QUS (T-score < −1). The QUS T-score lower than −1.55 or −1.40 in postmenopausal women may lead to an increased risk of falls or osteoporotic fractures, respectively. The agreement between QUS and the OSTA seemed to be limited in determining individuals at risk of osteoporosis. Measuring bone mineral density (BMD) by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) may still be necessary in the clinical diagnosis of osteoporosis. OSTA and QUS T-scores less than the respective cutoff values may indicate an increased risk of osteoporotic fractures and falls that individual should be further treated and screened by DXA.