Bone Quality in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease Determined by Quantitative Ultrasound (QUS) of the Calcaneus: Influence of Sex Differences

Jordi Caplliure-Llopis, Dolores Escrivá, Esther Navarro-Illana, María Benlloch, Jose Enrique de la Rubia Ortí and Carlos Barrios
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Jordi Caplliure-Llopis: Institute for Research on Musculoskeletal Disorders, Valencia Catholic University San Vincente Martir, Quevedo 2, 46001 Valencia, Spain
Dolores Escrivá: Institute for Research on Musculoskeletal Disorders, Valencia Catholic University San Vincente Martir, Quevedo 2, 46001 Valencia, Spain
Esther Navarro-Illana: Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Martir, 46001 Valencia, Spain
María Benlloch: Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Martir, 46001 Valencia, Spain
Jose Enrique de la Rubia Ortí: Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Martir, 46001 Valencia, Spain
Carlos Barrios: Institute for Research on Musculoskeletal Disorders, Valencia Catholic University San Vincente Martir, Quevedo 2, 46001 Valencia, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-9

Abstract: (1) Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a relatively common neurodegenerative disease in elderly individuals, with a high risk of falls. There is abundant literature on the relationship between PD and osteoporosis. The aim of this study is to describe the bone quality of a population with PD by calcaneal ultrasound and to compare it with a healthy control, assessing the influence of possible sex differences. (2) Methods: 21 patients diagnosed with PD were recruited. The control group was composed of 30 healthy individuals with similar sociodemographic characteristics. The bone quality of all participants was assessed using calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (QUS). The parameters recorded were broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA, in decibels per megahertz), imaging speed of sound (SOS, in meters per second), stiffness index (SI) and T-score of each participant. Bone mineral density (BMD) was estimated using the equation BMD = 0.002592 × (BUA + SOS) ? 3.687 (g/cm 2 ). (3) Results: significant differences were observed between the healthy control and the PD group: the T-score was lower in the PD group ( p < 0.05) and SOS was higher in Parkinson’s disease patients ( p < 0.05), while 28.6% of the PD patients were osteoporotic with T-score values lower than ?1.5 compared to 16.7% of osteoporotic individuals in the control group ( p < 0.01). Regarding the sex, there were significant differences ( p < 0.05) between the females of the PD group vs. control group, showing a significant difference in the SI (71.4 ± 14.7 vs. 87.8 ± 12), T-score (?2.19 ± 1.1 vs. ?0.15 ± 0.8), BUA (104.5 ± 13 vs. 116 ± 10.6) and BMD (0.49 ± 0.09 vs. 0.60 ± 0.08), with no difference in the comparison between the male groups; and the comparison between both sexes in T-score only showed significant differences for the PD group ( p < 0.05), with worse bone quality in women. (4) Conclusions: this study shows poorer bone quality in female patients with PD, who have a higher percentage of osteoporosis than healthy patients. The QUS technique of the calcaneus seems adequate for these determinations in patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; bone quality; quantitative ultrasound; sex (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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