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Chest X-Ray Clues To Osteoporosis : Criteria, Correlations, And Consistency, Natalie Renee Simmons

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

The purpose of this study was to determine whether radiologists could accurately assess osteopenia on chest plain films. Two chest radiologists evaluated lateral chest films from 100 patients (80 female and 20 male), ranging in age from 16 to 86 years, for osteopenia and its associated findings. Intra- and interobserver agreement was determined using weighted kappa statistics, and accuracy was assessed by making comparisons to bone mineral density as measured by the non-invasive gold standard of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Overall, radiologists were good at identifying signs of late, but not early, disease. Intraobserver consistency was substantial for fish vertebrae …