Appendicular cortical bone loss after age 65: Sex-dependent event?

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Abstract
Distal radius photodensitometric and second metacarpal radiogrammetric measurements were obtained from computerized analyses of standard hand X-Ray films of 296 Caucasian subjects (189 women and 107 men). This sample included 134 subjects ≥65 years old (75 women and 59 men). Distal radius bone density and metacarpal index showed a significant linear decrease with age in both sexes. Rates of bone loss, calculated from the regression curves, were-0.7% per year in women and-0.5% per year in men by distal radial photodensitometry, and-0.49% per year in women and-0.33% per year in men by metacarpal radiogrammetry. In the elderly subgroup, women ≥65 years of age showed an even faster bone loss, with an annual decrease of-1.4% by distal radial photodensitometry. Conversely, men ≥65 years of age had no significant bone loss, not even by metacarpal radiogrammetry. In conclusion, these data suggest that appendicular cortical bone loss ocurs at a higher rate in elderly females than in the elderly males, both at the distal radial and at the metacarpal site.