Multicenter Italian Study On The Bone Mass Ultrasonographic Evaluation At The Phalanges In The Climacteric (Vumof-Clife)

Background. It has been observed that prevention is the main objective in the management of the health care in the postmenopause: for this reason a screening of the female population at the climacteric is strongly recommended. In this study we used phalangeal quantitative ultrasound technique for screening purpose: our study involved 8 university centres homogeneously distributed in all country.Methods. Two thousand seven hundred and one measurements have been collected on women in the age range 25-80 years, Precision of the technique has been tested intracentre and intercentre: CV% values have been found to be lower than 1% for Amplitude Dependent Speed of Sound in all cases.Results. Using Amplitude Dependent Speed of Sound and Ultrasound Bone Profile Index it has been possible to discriminate between pre- and postmenopausal women (respectively: 2092 +/- 57 and 0.89 +/-0.08; 2030 +/- 68 and 0.75 +/-0.16, both p <0.0001). In the premenopausal group women with regular cycles have shown significant higher values of ultrasound parameters than women with irregular cycles (p <0.01), even if age-adjusted (p <0.05 and p <0.1, respectively). Using quantitative ultrasound technology it has been possible to discriminate between women with spontaneous and surgical menopause, It has also been possible to observe with Amplitude Dependent Speed of Sound the rapid decrease in bone mass immediately after menopause (< 72 months since menopause) and the slow decrease in the late postmenopause (> 72 months since menopause).Conclusions. We can conclude that Quantitative Ultrasound technique at the phalanges is highly reproducible and sensible to changes of the bone tissue at the climacteric in the pre, peri- and postmenopausal phases.