AGE-RELATED AND MENOPAUSE-RELATED CHANGES IN SPEED OF SOUND AND ULTRASOUND ATTENUATION OF THE OS CALCIS IN A HEALTHY ITALIAN FEMALE-POPULATION

This study assessed changes in ultrasonometric variables of bone (spee d of sound, broadband ultrasound attenuation and stiffness) related to age and years since menopause in a normal Italian female population. Two hundred and thirty-one healthy female subjects, age range 18-78 ye ars, divided into two groups (113 pre-menopausal, age range 18-51 year s, and 118 post-menopausal, age range 46-78 years), were investigated. The results obtained show that there was a linear decrease in speed o f sound, broadband ultrasound attenuation and stiffness with age; a si milar pattern was also observed in post-menopausal women as far as the correlations between ultrasonometric variables and both age and years since menopause were concerned. In particular, speed of sound decline d at a rate of 0.86 m/s for each year post-menopause, while broadband ultrasound attenuation declined at 0.4 dB/MHz, and stiffness at 0.5 un its. These findings suggest that ultrasound variables might be able to detect characteristics of bone that are barely influenced by estrogen deficiency, and depend on other factors. Therefore, ultrasound measur ement should be considered as a possible alternative to xray densitome try for the assessment of the skeleton. (C) 1997, Editrice Kurtis.