Evaluation of the peak bone mass by quantitative heel ultrasound in young women of the centre of Italy

Objective: To measure the reference young adult mean values in healthy women of the centre of Italy by Quantitative heel UltraSound (QUS). Methods: The study group was composed by 70 caucasian women: mean age was 25.4 years (Standard Deviation 4.7), mean weight was 58 Kg (SD 8.2), mean height was 166 cm (SD 5.8), mean BMI was 20.9 kg/m2 (SD 2.5). Every subject was evaluated firstly with an original questionnaire to discover risk factors (like for example steroids consumption, recent fractures of the lower limb), then was measured by quantitative heel ultrasonometry Hologic Sahara. Results: Mean extimated Bone Mineral Density (BMD) 0.588 g/cm2 (SD 0.124) mean Quantitative Ultrasound Index (QUI) 105.0 (SD 19.6), mean Speed of Sound (SOS) 1564.2 m/s (SD 31.4), mean Broadband Ultrasound Attenuation (BUA) 84.8 dB/MHz (SD 17.4). No significant correlation was found between QUS parameters and anthropometric data. A correlation was found between every QUS parameters. No significant differences were found about QUI and extimated BMD, between our results and Hologic normative data for European women. Conclusions: It is very important to develop specific reference values for any measurement device and site of skeleton especially in the age of reaching the peak bone mass because the T score is then measured referring to these data. Usually the normative data are supplied by manufacturer and are based on large multicentric study. In our opinion it could be helpful to verify if these data are compatible with the population examined in every region.