Validation of OSTA among Filipinos

Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease in humans. It is a special concern not only among postmenopausal women, but men as well. In developing countries where there are meager resources, it will definitely be helpful to search for ways to identify patients with low bone mineral density who have a high risk of future fractures. These people need to be identified for treatment consideration in order to reduce the incidence of the disease and its complications. A simple risk index called the Osteoporosis Screening Tool for Asians (OSTA), based only on two variables, age and body weight, performed well in identifying the risk of osteoporosis among postmenopausal women. This index has been validated in Japan, Korea and other Caucasian populations as a useful tool in identifying individuals who will require BMD measurement. This is the first study that validated the said index in 1,597 Filipino women and men referred to a tertiary center for BMD measurement. It had sensitivity of 97 and 90% and specificity of 59 and 66% with areas under the curve of 0.8506 and 0.8475, respectively, for women and men. We conclude that OSTA performed just as well or even better than other indices used in other populations to identify individuals who are at varying degrees of risk for osteoporosis. The tool also proves to be a useful and practical guide to help clinicians to be more prudent and judicious in employing bone mineral density measurement.