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editorial
. 2022 Sep;12(9):4346–4360. doi: 10.21037/qims-22-281

Table 1. Cutoff BMD values and T-scores for osteopenia and osteoporosis based on literature data: women’s spine.

Studies BMDyoung SDyoung Ageold BMDold SDold T-score ≤−1.0 T-score ≤−2.5 Prevalence =25% Prevalence =7.5%§
BMDlow Prevalence (%) BMDos Prevalence (%) BMDlow T-score BMDos T-score
US White [2012] (52)# 1.064 0.106 ≥50 0.951 0.152 0.958 51.79 0.799 15.76
≥60 0.930 0.152 0.958 57.24 0.799 19.47
US Black [2012] (52) 1.118 0.131 ≥50 1.023 0.155 0.987 40.85 0.791 6.66
≥60 1.013 0.167 0.987 43.84 0.791 9.11
Italian [2003] (53) 1.034 0.104 50–79 0.917 0.147 0.930 53.09 0.774 16.24
≥60–79 0.886 0.145 0.930 62.07 0.774 22.03
Finnish [1992] (54) 1.196 0.128 50–70 1.020 0.140 1.068 63.57 0.877 15.48
60–70 0.949 0.130 1.068 82.10 0.877 29.02
Austrian [2003] (55) 1.076 0.130 46–76 0.978 0.187 0.946 43.12 0.751 11.23
56–76 0.924 0.170 0.946 55.06 0.751 15.42
Canadian [2000] (56) 1.042 0.121 ≥50 0.921 0.740 12.10
Spanish [1997] (57) 1.031 0.104 50–79 0.865 0.141 0.927 66.88 0.771 25.12
British [1996] (58) 1.240 0.110 50–89 1.071 0.208 1.130 61.20 0.965 30.51
Swedish [2000] (59) 1.057 0.105 ≥70 0.875 0.162 0.952 68.27 0.795 30.96
Chinese meta [2013] (60) 1.058 0.140 ≥50 0.870 0.182 0.918 60.34 0.708 18.66 0.747 −2.219 0.608 −3.214
US Chinese [2006] (61) 0.994 0.110 50–89 0.837 0.137 0.884 63.48 0.719 19.48 0.774 −2.269 0.640 −3.221
Hong Kong [2005] (51)^ 0.990 0.100 ≥60 0.795 0.140 0.890 75.28 0.740 34.78 0.721 −2.686 0.616 −3.743
Singapore [2020] (62) 1.071 0.121 ≥51 0.931 0.151 0.950 54.94 0.768 13.98 0.830 −1.994 0.715 −2.946
Japan [2001] (63)## 1.015 0.105 50–79 0.810 0.143 0.910 75.80 0.752 34.51 0.713 −2.877 0.603 −3.921
ML Chinese [2007] (64) 1.098 0.111 50–89 0.922 0.172 0.987 64.80 0.820 27.75 0.806 −2.630 0.674 −3.813
Korea [2008] (65)## 1.194 0.120 50–79 0.922 0.159 1.074 83.16 0.894 43.12 0.814 −3.163 0.693 −4.175
Korea [2014] (66)## 0.961 0.109 ≥50 0.801 0.244* 0.852 58.25 0.688 32.19 0.637 −2.975 0.450 −4.686
Taiwan [2011] (67) 1.090 0.106 >50 0.908 0.170 0.984 67.26 0.825 31.25 0.794 −2.798 0.664 −4.024

#, cited reference and the year of publication (see reference list). Age in years. BMD unit in g/cm2. , assuming the reference Caucasian have an osteopenia prevalence of 50%, the osteopenia prevalence for Chinese ≥50 years old is assumed to be 25%. §, assuming the reference Caucasian have an osteoporosis prevalence of 15%, the osteoporosis prevalence for Chinese ≥50 years old is assumed to be 7.5% (US Blacks: 6.66%). In one study (10), we compared spine radiographs from two studies conducted in Hong Kong [MsOS (Hong Kong) n=200] and in Rome (Roman Osteoporosis Prevention Project, n=200, age-matched subjects with both mean age: 74.1 years and range: 65–87 years). The results show radiographic OVF with ≥40% vertebral height loss was recorded among 9.5% of the Chinese subjects, while among 26% of the Italian subjects. We consider osteoporosis prevalence of 7.5% for older Chinese women could be an aggressive estimation, i.e., the real prevalence could be even lower (also see Figure S2B). ^, for Hong Kong data, it is assumed that, for subjects ≥60 years, osteopenia prevalence and osteoporosis prevalence is 30% and 10% respectively. *, a large SD was obtained. ##, Kwok et al. (20) reported Hong Kong Chinese women, Beijing Chinese women, Japanese women, Korean women have very similar radiographic osteoporotic vertebral fracture prevalence. BMD, bone mineral density; ML, mainland; Chinese meta, meta-analysis result; BMDyoung, adopted value as the reference BMD; SDyoung, standard deviation of the reference young subject data; BMDold, measured BMD of the subjects ≥50 years old; SDold, standard deviation of the subjects ≥50 years old; BMDlow, the cutpoint to define osteopenia; BMDos, the cutpoint to define osteoporosis.