Screening tools for osteoporosis in India: Where do we place them in current clinical care?

Comparative accuracy of osteoporosis risk assessment tools in postmenopausal women: A systematic review and network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX, threshold ≥9.3 %), Osteoporosis Risk Assessment Instrument (ORAI, ≥9), Osteoporosis Index of Risk (OSIRIS, <1), Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool (OST, <2), and Simple Calculated Osteoporosis Risk Estimation (SCORE, ≥6) have been endorsed by the US Preventive Services Task Force for evaluating the need for bone mineral density measurement by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE

To systematically compare the sensitivity and specificity of the five osteoporosis risk assessment tools for detecting bone mineral density-defined osteoporosis.

METHODS

A systematic search was conducted across the Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed and Web of Science databases up to January 29, 2024, to identify observational studies that evaluated comparative accuracy of these tools in postmenopausal women. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 and its comparative extension were utilized to evaluate the risk of bias and applicability. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for relative sensitivity and specificity were calculated using a multivariate random-effects model, with tool rankings determined by Surface Under the Cumulative Ranking (SUCRA).

RESULTS

17 studies were included, involving 9669 postmenopausal women with bone mineral density-defined osteoporosis and 34,143 without the condition. The SCORE (OR = 12.11, 95 % CI [4.46-32.86]) exhibited significantly higher sensitivity than FRAX, followed by ORAI (OR = 7.01, 95 % CI [2.84-17.31]) and OST (OR = 6.90, 95 % CI [3.07-15.52]). Compared to OSIRIS, higher sensitivity was observed for SCORE (OR = 4.92, 95 % CI [2.41-10.05]), ORAI (OR = 2.85, 95 % CI [1.63-4.99]), and OST (OR = 2.80, 95 % CI [1.58-4.97]). However, specificity was lower for SCORE (OR = 0.16, 95 % CI [0.08-0.33]), ORAI (OR = 0.26, 95 % CI [0.13-0.51]), and OST (OR = 0.28, 95 % CI [0.15-0.53]) compared to FRAX. Similarly, SCORE (OR = 0.25, 95 % CI [0.15-0.41]), ORAI (OR = 0.40, 95 % CI [0.26-0.62]), and OST (OR = 0.44, 95 % CI [0.27-0.69]) showed significantly lower specificity than OSIRIS. Based on SUCRA values, SCORE (98.2 %) ranked as the most sensitive tool, followed by ORAI (64.2 %) and OST (62.6 %), whereas FRAX (96.7 %) was the most specific, followed by OSIRIS (78.3 %).

CONCLUSIONS

The risk assessment tools for identifying postmenopausal women with bone mineral density-defined osteoporosis, endorsed by the US Preventive Services Task Force, can be categorized into two groups. SCORE (≥6), ORAI (≥9), and OST (<2) offer higher sensitivity, identifying more osteoporosis patients, whereas FRAX (≥9.3 %) and OSIRIS (<1) provide higher specificity, identifying those without the condition more accurately.

REGISTRATION

PROSPERO (CRD42024507532).

Prevalence of osteoporosis and associated factors among people aged 50 years and older in the Madhesh province of Nepal: a community-based cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The high prevalence of osteoporosis has increased the economic burden on the health system globally. The burden of osteoporosis and its associated factors have not been adequately assessed in community settings in the Nepalese context thus far. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of osteoporosis and its associated factors, lifestyle behaviors, and dietary calcium intake.

METHODS

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 395 people aged 50 years and older in the Madhesh Province of Nepal between July 2022 and August 2023. The Osteoporosis Self-assessment Tools for Asians (OSTA) index was used to measure osteoporosis. A structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic information, anthropometric data, lifestyle behavior, daily dietary calcium intake, and frequency of calcium-rich food consumption. A food frequency questionnaire and 24-hour recall methods were used to assess dietary intake. The chi-square test, binary logistic regression and Mann‒Whitney U test were applied to measure the association between predictors and the outcome of interest.

RESULTS

The prevalence of no risk, moderate risk and high risk of osteoporosis were 38.7%, 39%, and 22.3% respectively. The risk of osteoporosis was higher in females (aOR = 5.18, CI: 2.10-12.75, p < 0.001) and increased risk with advancing age (aOR = 32.49, CI: 14.02-75.28, p < 0.001). Similarly, underweight was associated with increased odds of having osteoporosis (aOR = 13.42, CI = 4.58-39.30, p < 0.001). The incidence of osteoporosis was strongly associated with daily calcium intake of 225 mg (100, 386).

CONCLUSION

This study revealed a high prevalence of osteoporosis among people aged 50 years and older due to the combined effect of being underweight and having inadequate calcium intake. Nutritional counselling services encourage people to consume sufficient calcium-rich food and adopt an appropriate lifestyle behaviours to maintain healthy body weight so that osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures could be prevented. Further research can explore the impact of socioeconomic status and medical comorbidities on a large scale.

CircZNF367 promotes osteoclast differentiation and osteoporosis by interacting with FUS to maintain CRY2 mRNA stability

BACKGROUND

Osteoporosis, characterized by reduced bone mass and deterioration of bone quality, is a significant health concern for postmenopausal women. Considering that the specific role of circRNAs in osteoporosis and osteoclast differentiation remains poorly understood, this study aims to shed light on their involvement in these processes to enhance our understanding and potentially contribute to improved treatment strategies for osteoporosis.

METHODS

An osteoporotic model was constructed in vivo in ovariectomized mouse. In vitro, we induced osteoclast formation in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) using M-CSF + RANKL. To assess osteoporosis in mice, we conducted HE staining. We used MTT and TRAP staining to measure cell viability and osteoclast formation, respectively, and also evaluated their mRNA and protein expression levels. In addition, RNA pull-down, RIP and luciferase reporter assays were performed to investigate interactions, and ChIP assay was used to examine the impact of circZNF367 knockdown on the binding between FUS and CRY2.

RESULTS

We observed increased expression of CircZNF367, FUS and CRY2 in osteoporotic mice and M-CSF + RANKL-induced BMDMs. Functionally, knocking down circZNF367 inhibited osteoporosis in vivo. Furthermore, interference with circZNF367 suppressed osteoclast proliferation and the expression of TRAP, NFATc1, and c-FOS. Mechanistically, circZNF367 interacted with FUS to maintain CRY2 mRNA stability. Additionally, knocking down CRY2 rescued M-CSF + RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation in BMDMs promoted by circZNF367 and FUS.

CONCLUSION

This study reveals that the circZNF367/FUS axis may accelerate osteoclasts differentiation by upregulating CRY2 in osteoporosis and suggests that targeting circZNF367 may have potential therapeutic effects on osteoporosis.

Metabolome-Wide Mendelian Randomization Assessing the Causal Relationship Between Blood Metabolites and Bone Mineral Density

Mounting evidence has supported osteoporosis (OP) as a metabolic disorder. Recent metabolomics studies have discovered numerous metabolites related to bone mineral density (BMD). However, the causal effects of metabolites on BMD at distinct sites remained underexplored. Leveraging genome-wide association datasets, we conducted two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to investigate the causal relationship between 486 blood metabolites and bone mineral density at five skeletal sites including heel (H), total body (TB), lumbar spine (LS), femoral neck (FN), and ultra-distal forearm (FA). Sensitivity analyses were performed to test the presence of the heterogeneity and the pleiotropy. To exclude the influences of reverse causation, genetic correlation, and linkage disequilibrium (LD), we further performed reverse MR, linkage disequilibrium regression score (LDSC), and colocalization analyses. In the primary MR analyses, 22, 10, 3, 7, and 2 metabolite associations were established respectively for H-BMD, TB-BMD, LS-BMD, FN-BMD, and FA-BMD at the nominal significance level (IVW, P < 0.05) and passing sensitivity analyses. Among these, one metabolite, androsterone sulfate showed a strong effect on four out of five BMD phenotypes (Odds ratio [OR] for H-BMD = 1.045 [1.020, 1.071]; Odds ratio [OR] for TB-BMD = 1.061 [1.017, 1.107]; Odds ratio [OR] for LS-BMD = 1.088 [1.023, 1.159]; Odds ratio [OR] for FN-BMD = 1.114 [1.054, 1.177]). Reverse MR analysis provided no evidence for the causal effects of BMD measurements on these metabolites. Colocalization analysis have found that several metabolite associations might be driven by shared genetic variants such as mannose for TB-BMD. This study identified some metabolites causally related to BMD at distinct sites and several key metabolic pathways, which shed light on predictive biomarkers and drug targets for OP.

Osteoporosis Screening and Fracture Risk Assessment Tool: Its Scope and Role in General Clinical Practice

Osteoporosis is a widely prevalent condition among postmenopausal women characterized by low bone mass and skeletal fragility that increases the risk of fractures specifically in the hip, spine, wrist, humerus, and pelvis. It has become a major public health problem around the world. An osteoporotic fracture affects one in every three women and one in every five men aged 50 and above. Hip and spine fractures are linked to a higher death rate and can cause ambulation problems, depression, chronic pain, independence loss, and persistent discomfort. It not only puts a lot of strain on the individual but also causes a significant cost to society. Osteoporosis is a silent disease that goes unrecognized until a patient develops a pathological fracture. Diagnosis of osteoporosis is based on bone mineral density (BMD) estimation by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) as defined by WHO. However, in many resource-constrained and underdeveloped or low-middle income countries, it is not widely available. There are a number of questionnaire-based techniques available to identify such postmenopausal women and older men who may be at risk of having low BMD and osteoporosis. Our aim of the study is to search and compile such simple yet useful and validated screening and assessment tools for osteoporosis that can help to identify people at risk of having low BMD and the potential candidate who can benefit from BMD estimation in a resource-restricted geographical area or low/middle-income countries and benefit from treatment. Though these tools are not diagnostic can have broader applicability in general clinical practice and usefulness in identifying high-risk individuals and may prove cost-effective. Although it has limitations, FRAX is a widely used osteoporotic fracture risk assessment tool around the globe and when used with femoral neck BMD it has greater accuracy.