The use of visual assessment of dental radiographs for identifying women at risk of having osteoporosis: the OSTEODENT project

C. Lindh, K. Horner, G. Jonasson, P. Olsson, M. Rohlin, R. Jacobs, K. Karayianni, P. van der Stelt, J. Adams, E. Marjanovic, S. Pavitt, H. Devlin

    Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Objective
    The objective of this study was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of visual assessment of the trabecular pattern in intraoral periapical radiographs to identify female subjects at risk of having osteoporosis.

    Study design
    Six hundred female subjects underwent intraoral periapical radiography of the maxillary and mandibular premolar region. Five observers assessed the trabecular pattern as dense, heterogeneous, or sparse, with the aid of reference images. All patients received a central dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) examination of the hip and lumbar spine.

    Results
    With sparse trabecular pattern as indicative of osteoporosis, mean specificity was high (91.6 for the upper jaw and 90.8 for the lower jaw) while the sensitivity was low (28.2 for the upper and lower jaw). The mean intraobserver agreement was comparable for radiographs of the upper and lower jaw (median κw 0.53 and 0.57, respectively).

    Conclusion
    Visual assessment of the trabecular pattern in intraoral periapical radiographs of premolar regions is a potential method to identify women at risk of having osteoporosis
    Original languageUndefined/Unknown
    Pages (from-to)285-293
    JournalOral Surgery Oral Medicine Oral Pathology Oral Radiology and Endodontology
    Volume106
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

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