A Fracture Risk Assessment Tool for High Resolution Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography

Most fracture risk assessment tools use clinical risk factors combined with bone mineral density (BMD) to improve assessment of osteoporosis; however, stratifying fracture risk remains challenging. This study developed a fracture risk assessment tool that uses information about volumetric bone density and three-dimensional structure, obtained using high-resolution peripheral quantitative compute tomography (HR-pQCT), to provide an alternative approach for patient-specific assessment of fracture risk. Using an international prospective cohort of older adults (n = 6802) we developed a tool to predict osteoporotic fracture risk, called mu FRAC. The model was constructed using random survival forests, and input predictors included HR-pQCT parameters summarizing BMD and microarchitecture alongside clinical risk factors (sex, age, height, weight, and prior adulthood fracture) and femoral neck areal BMD (FN aBMD). The performance of mu FRAC was compared to the Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) and a reference model built using FN aBMD and clinical covariates. mu FRAC was predictive of osteoporotic fracture (c-index = 0.673, p < 0.001), modestly outperforming FRAX and FN aBMD models (c-index = 0.617 and 0.636, respectively). Removal of FN aBMD and all clinical risk factors, except age, from mu FRAC did not significantly impact its performance when estimating 5-year and 10-year fracture risk. The performance of mu FRAC improved when only major osteoporotic fractures were considered (c-index = 0.733, p < 0.001). We developed a personalized fracture risk assessment tool based on HR-pQCT that may provide an alternative approach to current clinical methods by leveraging direct measures of bone density and structure. (c) 2023 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).

Automated summary

This study developed a fracture risk assessment tool based on high-resolution peripheral quantitative compute tomography (HR-pQCT) to evaluate patient-specific fracture risk. The tool, called mu FRAC, outperformed the current Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) and models based on bone mineral density (BMD). It provides an alternative approach by utilizing direct measures of bone density and structure.