Comparison of trabecular bone density at vertebral and radial sites using quantitative computed tomography.

Trabecular volumetric bone mineral density (VMD) was measured at the lumbar spine using quantitative computed tomography (QCT) and at the distal radius using peripheral QCT (pQCT) in 60 Japanese women aged 21-86 years. The age-dependent decrease between age 20 and 80 years was found to be almost identical between vertebral trabecular VMD and radial trabecular VMD, averaging 2.5 +/- 0.26 (SE) and 2.5 +/- 0.30 mg/cm3 per year, respectively. A highly significant correlation was found between vertebral and radial trabecular VMD (r = 0.806, p < 0.001) with a prediction error of +/- 9.6% (+/- SD/mean). In the present study, a relatively constant trabecular VMD ratio was found between the vertebral and distal radial sites, despite the relatively small study population. This may indicate a close parallelism between vertebral and radial trabecular bone.