It’s hard to keep up with osteoporosis—but it is necessary

In the last month or two, there has been a flurry of activity in the osteoporosis field. After several years gathering evidence from many peer-reviewed publications, the World Health Organization (WHO), under the leadership of Professor John Kanis from Sheffield in the United Kingdom, has developed and distributed a country-specific fracture risk assessment tool—FRAX. Armed with a patient’s age, height, weight, some medical history and a hip bone density measurement, it is now possible to predict with more certainty than before an individual’s 10-year absolute risk of sustaining any major osteoporosis-related fracture and also the 10-year risk of hip fracture. Within the United States, the risk can be tailored to sex and ethnicity.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) simultaneously released their updated Clinician’s Guide to Osteoporosis. This new guide includes details of the FRAX toolkit.

If that is not enough new information, the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) released their new Official Position Statements regarding the application of bone density testing to adults and, for the first time I believe, also the pediatric population. These are also available online.

I would not recommend reading them in one sitting, but do take a quick look at them before your patients start showing up in your office asking about them. I have been able to watch the development of these documents and can attest to the rigor with which the evidence has been assembled, scrutinized and assembled in a manner that is easy to read and to apply to your practice.

Editor's note: Dr. Kleerekoper serves on the Board of Trustees at NOF and is an active member of ISCD.