Age-dependent changes in CT vertebral attenuation values in opportunistic screening for osteoporosis: a nationwide multi-center study

Objectives

To examine how vertebral attenuation changes with aging, and to establish age-adjusted CT attenuation value cutoffs for diagnosing osteoporosis.

Materials and methods

This multi-center retrospective study included 11,246 patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 50 ± 13 years; 7139 men) who underwent CT and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in six health-screening centers between 2022 and 2023. Using deep-learning-based software, attenuation values of L1 vertebral bodies were measured. Segmented linear regression in women and simple linear regression in men were used to assess how attenuation values change with aging. A multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to determine whether age is associated with CT attenuation values independently of the DXA T-score. Age-adjusted cutoffs targeting either 90% sensitivity or 90% specificity were derived using quantile regression. Performance of both age-adjusted and age-unadjusted cutoffs was measured, where the target sensitivity or specificity was considered achieved if a 95% confidence interval encompassed 90%.

Results

While attenuation values declined consistently with age in men, they declined abruptly in women aged > 42 years. Such decline occurred independently of the DXA T-score (p < 0.001). Age adjustment seemed critical for age ≥ 65 years, where the age-adjusted cutoffs achieved the target (sensitivity of 91.5% (86.3–95.2%) when targeting 90% sensitivity and specificity of 90.0% (88.3–91.6%) when targeting 90% specificity), but age-unadjusted cutoffs did not (95.5% (91.2–98.0%) and 73.8% (71.4–76.1%), respectively).

Conclusion

Age-adjusted cutoffs provided a more reliable diagnosis of osteoporosis than age-unadjusted cutoffs since vertebral attenuation values decrease with age, regardless of DXA T-scores.

Key Points

Question How does vertebral CT attenuation change with age?

Findings Independent of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry T-score, vertebral attenuation values on CT declined at a constant rate in men and abruptly in women over 42 years of age.

Clinical relevance Age adjustments are needed in opportunistic osteoporosis screening, especially among the elderly.