Relationship to Fracture Risk

Prospective clinical studies have demonstrated that subjects with low BMD are at higher risk of fracture. The risk of fracture increases exponentially with decreasing BMD. For example, for Hip fracture, it has been demonstrated that with a 1 SD decrease in hip BMD there is a 2-3-fold increase in the risk of hip fracture. (A 2-fold increase is often reported at a relative risk of 2).

For example, a patient with a Z score of –1SD will have twice the risk of developing a hip fracture compared to a patient with a Z score of 0.0SD. Furthermore a patient with a Z score of –3SD will be 8 times more likely to have a hip fracture.

It has also been demonstrated that a similar relationship exists between heel ultrasound and hip fracture with approximately a two-fold increase in the risk of fracture per 1 standard deviation (SD) decrease in BUA.

A recent prospective study using the CUBA Clinical confirmed previous findings. A decrease of one SD in BUA was associated with more than a two-fold increase (2.3RR) in hip fracture and a 60 % (RR 1.6) increase in the risk of any fracture.

In summary, prospective studies have demonstrated the strong exponential relationship between heel ultrasound and x-ray results, and the ability of the CUBA Clinical to predict the risk of future fracture.