Could the bone mineral density (T-score) be correlated with the Raman spectral features of keratin from women's nails and be used to predict osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a disease with great importance in current public health due to the associated risk of fracture; therefore, a rapid and accurate diagnosis becomes increasingly important. Recent literature has described a possible relationship between the changes in the organic phase of bone and the changes in nail keratin measured through Raman spectroscopy, aiming at the development of a standard for measuring bone quality and fracture risk both rapid and accurately. This work evaluated the correlation between the bone mineral density (BMD) scores of women with and without osteoporotic disease with the changes in the Raman spectra of the nail keratin, by assessing the intensity of the peak at 510 cm(-1) (S-S bridge) and the scores of principal component analysis (PCA), correlated with the values of BMD measured at the lumbar and hip.