BONE ULTRASONIC-ATTENUATION IN WOMEN - REPRODUCIBILITY, NORMAL VARIATION AND COMPARISON WITH PHOTON-ABSORPTIOMETRY

The reproducibility of two methods of measuring broadband ultrasonic a ttenuation (BUA) in the calcaneus have been studied. An improvement in reproducibility in vivo from 9.6% to 2.8% between old and new techniq ues has been observed. Measurements of the calcaneus using BUA were co rrelated with measurements of bone mineral density measured by dual en ergy x-ray absorptiometry in the lumbar spine, femur and total body an d bone mineral content in the distal and proximal forearm measured by single photon absorptiometry. For the older BUA technique the correlat ion coefficients ranged between r = 0.27 and r = 0.34. For the newer B UA technique the correlation coefficients ranged between r = 0.49 and r = 0.62 and were all significant (P < 0.001).