[Bone density--reference values in German men. A study of the lumbar spine with the Lunar-DPX-densitometer].

Unlabelled: The DXA-technique is a well established method to study bone mineral density (BMD). Until now there are no reliable reference data based on the male population of Germany.
Question: Are the data base, given by the manufacturer transferable to the male population in Germany?
Methods: So a cross sectional study based on 715 healthy males with German ethnic background (age 20-89) was carried out. Comparison was made to the ap spine reference data of northern Europe.
Results: The peak bone mass was 1,26 +/- 0,17 g/cm2 at the age of 20-24 years. After that the BMD decreases to the sixth decade (1,09 +/- 0,18 g/cm2), further on there is an increase to 1,18 +/- 0,21 g/cm2 in the ninth decade.
Conclusion: Looking at a comparable Swedish study there are no significant differences, looking at a Finnish study there are statistically significant differences in the sixth decade (t = 3,246) and seventh decade (t = 2,413). The results of our study complete the data base until now, but one should be careful to transfer the data base provided by the manufacturer.