Tuesday, December 2 | 3:10 p.m.-3:20 p.m. | T7-SSMK07-2 | Room E351
In this session, research will be presented on outcomes from a 15-year retrospective analysis of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans of more than 4,500 women.
The findings suggest that early osteoporosis screening in women under 65 years old may not improve detection, notes presenter Helen Kwon, a medical student at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and colleagues.
In the study, researchers examined the rate of conversion to osteoporosis in 2,205 women whose initial DEXA scan was performed before age 65 compared with 2,375 who were 65 and older. Among women in the 65+ age group, 27.4% were osteoporotic (T-score ≤ -2.5), compared with 19.1% of women under the age of 65.
Among those who became osteoporotic on subsequent scans, the median time to osteoporosis was 13.3 years for the younger group and 12.2 years for the older group (p < 0.001). The number of years for 80% of the population to remain nonosteoporotic was 8.7 years for women under the age of 65 and 7.7 years for women over the age of 65 (p < 0.001).
The number of years for 80% of the population to remain nonosteoporotic was 12.2 in women who initially had normal-to-mild osteopenia (T-score ≥ -1.9), compared with 4.8 years among those with moderate-to-severe osteopenia (T-score -2.0 to -2.4) (p < 0.001). The median time to osteoporosis for the moderate-to-severe osteopenia group was 9.4 years (p < 0.001).
The findings suggest that there should be greater emphasis on appropriate initial screening as well as less-frequent interval imaging, especially in women not osteoporotic or only mildly osteopenic at initial screening, according to the group.
Check out this presentation to learn more about the group’s findings.