No influence of osteoarthritis of the hand on phalangeal osteosonography in elderly women

We investigated the influence of hand osteoarthritis on skeletal quantitative ultrasound (QUS) measurement through the proximal phalanges in female geriatic inpatients. In a cross-sectional study, bone status was assessed with QUS at the distal metaphysis of the first phalanges of fingers II-V. Thirty-three of 101 female geriatric inpatients met the clinical criteria of the American College of Rheumatology for osteoarthitis of the hands (median age: 85 yr) and were compared with 68 female inpatients without swellings of the small finger joints (median age: 88 yr). Amplitude-dependent speed of sound at the distal metaphysis, the electronic signal of the ultrasonic wave after crossing the phalanx (graphic trace), and the thickness of each phalanx were measured and compared between the two groups by a phalangeal QUS device (DBM-Sonic 1200). There were no significant differences between the phalangeal QUS readings of both groups. The only statistically significant difference was observed in the comparison of the small finger thickness with a lower value in the osteoarthritis group (p = 0.02). This findings suggest that at the metaphyseal level of phalanges, the degenerative process of osteoarthritis: does not influence QUS assessment. This could be explained by the finger thickness at the metaphyseal level, which was not increased in patients with osteoarthritis compared with control subjects, at least as detected by the applied finger ultrasound method.