Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) at the calcaneus and hand phalanges in Polish healthy postmenopausal women.

In a cross-sectional study, 109 postmenopausal, healthy women, mean age 58.8 years, were studied. The aim of the study was to compare quantitative ultrasound (QUS) performed at two measurement sites of the same persons (correlations between parameters studied, age, and years since menopause (YSM)-related changes, influence of body size). Bone status was established using measurements at the calcaneus by Achilles (Lunar, USA), which measures speed of sound (SOS [m/s], CV% = 0.22%), broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA [dB/MHz], CV% = 1.8%), stiffness index (SI [%], CV% = 1.3%), and by DBM Sonic 1200 (Igea, Italy), which measures amplitude-dependent speed of sound (Ad-SoS [m/s], CV% = 0.64%) at the hand phalanges. Mean and SD values were: SOS = 1498 +/- 24.8 m/s, BUA = 104.6 +/- 9.4 dB/MHz, SI = 69.2 +/- 12.3%, Ad-SoS = 1879 +/- 90.1 m/s. Age- and YSM-related changes were as follows: age-SOS r = -0.37, p < 0.0001, age-BUA r = -0.33, p < 0.001, age-SI r = -0.36, p < 0.001, age-Ad-SoS r = -0.62, p < 0.00001, YSM-SOS r = -0.27, p < 0.01, YSM-BUA r = -0.32, p < 0.001, YSM-Ad-SoS r = -0.44, p < 0.00001, YSM-SI r = -0.29, p < 0.01. In stepwise, multiple regression analyses of ultrasound parameters on age, YSM, height, and weight, the following equations were obtained: SOS [m/s] = 1564.9 - 1.1 x age [y], r = -0.37, p < 0.0001; BUA [dB/MHz] = 88.7 + 0.28 x weight [kg] - 0.36 x YSM [y], r = -0.51, p < 0.00001; SI [%]) = 79.2 - 0.5 x age [y] + 0.28 x weight [kg], r = -0.47, p < 0.00001; Ad-SoS [m/s] = 2287 to 6.9 x age [y], r = -0.62, p < 0.00001. In conclusion, QUS at the calcaneus and hand phalanges express similar trends in skeletal changes due to aging and the postmenopausal period, although measurements at the phalanges seem to be more sensitive for detecting bone changes, due to faster decrease rate of the Ad-SoS value than calcaneal measurements.