Osteoporosis Screening Values of Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool for Asians Index and Body Mass Index in Middle-Aged and Elderly Tibetan Population in Tibet

  Objective  To analyze the screening value of osteoporosis self-screening tool for Asia (OSTA) and body mass index (BMI) for osteoporosis (OP) in middle-aged and elderly Tibetan population in the Tibetan region.

  Methods  Data on demographic information, bone mineral density (BMD), and other information of 627 middle-aged and elderly people were collected. Analysis of the correlation between OSTA index, BMI and BMD, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was performed to evaluate the OP screening effects.

  Results  OSTA index and BMI were correlated with BMD in both female and male populations (P<0.05). In both male and female populations, OSTA index screening results for OP yielded higher area under the curve (AUC) than BMI did, with the AUC for female OSTA index being 0.886 and that for female BMI being 0.785, while that for male OSTA index being 0.957 and that for male BMI being 0.834. When comparing the different age groups, the AUC of OSTA index and BMI of the middle-age group was higher than those of the quasi-elderly group and the elderly group, with the AUC of OSTA index and BMI of the middle-age being 0.939 and 0.858, those of the quasi-elderly group being 0.860 and 0.813, and those of the elderly group being 0.750 and 0.650, respectively. When the optimal cut-off value of diagnosis with OSTA index was −2.20, the sensitivity and specificity were both 100%. When the optimal cut-off value for diagnosis with BMI was 17.512 kg/m², the sensitivity and specificity were both 100%.

  Conclusion  OSTA index and BMI have different OP screening effects in different middle-aged and elderly Tibetan populations, and OSTA index shows better effects for OP screening than BMI does.