Controversy about reference values for vertebral morphometry by X-ray absorptiometry

摘要

We are pleased that our paper [1] has generated interest in the need to shed light on morphometric X-ray absorptiometry (MXA) reference values to be used in clinical practice.We have read the letter by Kanterwericz where he derived reference data from 2832 postmenopausal women aged 58-63 y selected from a sample of 2968 women randomly recruited from the community after excluding women with vertebral fracture.He compared his data with ours for the group aged 60-69 y (n = 430) and also with the GE Lunar reference values, showing that raw mean Italian and Spanish vertebral heights are almost superim-posable but lower than Lunar reference data. Nevertheless, he stated that mean normalized values from both Spanish and Italian women were almost identical to Lunar reference values.