Corticomedular index of the right tibia in the diagnosis of osteopenia in prehistoric skeletal remains

✍ Scribed by E. Gonzalez-Reimers; J. Velasco-Vazquez; N. Barros-Lopez; M. Arnay-De-La-Rosa; F. Santolaria-Fernandez; A. Castilla-Garcia

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 172 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1042-0533
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6300(1998)10:1<37::aid-ajhb5>3.0.co;2-9

✦ Synopsis

This study examined the diagnostic accuracy of the corticomedular index obtained at the midpoint of the shaft of right tibia as an indicator of osteopenia in a prehistoric sample composed of 133 individuals. Osteopenia was assessed by a histomorphometrical measure of trabecular bone volume (TBV) in an undecalcified bone section of a small part of the proximal epiphysis to: Mild, moderate, and severe osteopenia were defined as TBV values less than 17.5%, 15%, and 12.5%, respectively. The corticomedular index (CI) was determined on X-ray films of the tibiae. Mean TBV of the sample was 17.93 ± 4.97%, it was moderately correlated with CI (r = 0.43, p < 0.0001). CI values under 0.20 showed high specificity in the diagnosis of all degrees of osteopenia, whereas CI values under 0.275 showed relatively high sensitivity (90.4%) in the diagnosis of severe osteopenia. These methods were then prospectively applied in a further sample of 41 right tibiae also from a prehistoric sample of Gran Canaria. The results were similar to those in the larger sample. Thus, CI may be a useful tool in detecting osteopenia in earlier populations. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 10:37-44, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.