Efficacy of age, menopause, and dental radiographic measures in identifying women at risk of spine Osteoporosis: an investigation panorama

Background. Osteoporosis is a vulnerable condition that results in fragile bones and affects the quality of life of the concerned individuals and their family. Aim. The study is to estimate bone mineral density (BMD) at lumbar spine and investigate the influence of age, menopause and dental radiographic indicators in the assessment of osteoporosis. Materials and methods. The study involved 74 women aged 57.3 +/- 11.9 years. All participants underwent BMD scans using a central DXA scanner (DPX Prodigy DXA Scanner; GE Lunar Corporation, Madison, WI, USA) and Orthopantomogram (OPG) using an Orthopantomogram scanner (Carestream CS8100 Dental OPG Machine). Radiographic assessments and image processing techniques were used to determine mandibular cortical width (MCW) and trabecular bone content (TBC). The participants were divided into three groups based on the lumbar spine T-score as Control, Osteopenia and Osteoporosis. Stepwise multivariate linear regression analysis was conducted to estimate AP (L1-L4) spine BMD (sBMD). Results. MCW, TBC and sBMD revealed a strong correlation (p < 0.01) with sBMD measured using DXA. MCW and TBC decreased by 18.5% and 4% respectively among osteoporotic subjects in comparison with the control group. MCW suffers a steep fall after 47.5 years and furthermore MCW, TBC and BMD decreased by 22.2%, 4.3% and 15.5%, respectively among the post-menopausal women. The sBMD exhibited (AUC = 0.837) in discriminating with low spine BMD. Conclusion. A threshold of MCW <= 2.4 mm and TBC <= 0.44 could be set as a baseline for south Indian women who require further assessment of osteoporosis.