The Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool for Asians (OSTA) is a tool that can assess osteoporosis risk based on age and weight. Bone quality, including bone microstructure, as well as bone mineral density (BMD), is important for bone strength. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between the OSTA and bone strength indices other than BMD. A total of 111 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who had undergone high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography in our outpatient clinic were included. The OSTA was calculated using the age and weight, and other techniques were used to evaluate the participants’ bones. To investigate the relationship between the OSTA and bone microstructure, comparisons of two groups based on OSTA and multiple regression analysis was performed. Women with OSTA below -4 had poor values for many parameters, including bone microstructural parameters. Multiple regression analysis showed that tibial microstructural parameters were associated with OSTA score independently of femoral neck BMD. OSTA was developed as a screening tool for osteoporosis, however it was found to be related to the microstructure parameters of the tibia when evaluated in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Among patients with osteoporosis, those with low OSTA may have deteriorated bone quality in the lower limbs.
Fujii et al. (Sat,) studied this question.