Diagnosis of Osteoporosis

Physicians utilize bone densitometry to categorize patients as normal, osteopenic, or osteoporotic following the World Health Organization (WHO) classifications. The patient’s T-score (comparison to the young adult reference) is the critical variable in diagnosis. Typically, both femurs and the spine are assessed, with the diagnosis made using the lowest T-score. Patient examination, in addition to the T-score, is key to diagnosing osteoporosis.

Fracture Risk Assessment

Bone mineral density (BMD) is the strongest tool to predict fracture risk, which increases exponentially as BMD decreases. Femur BMD is recognized as the strongest predictor of femur fracture risk, which has the highest morbidity, mortality and cost of all osteoporotic fractures. A decrease of 1 standard deviation (SD) in femur BMD corresponds to approximately a 3X increase in femur fracture risk. In comparison, a 1 SD decrease in spine BMD corresponds to a 2X increase in spine fracture risk.

Monitoring Changes in BMD

Patients may return for bone density tests every 1-3 years, depending on the expected rate of loss and their clinical situation. BMD may increase over time as a response to therapy, or it may decrease with disease progression or poor response to therapy. Precision (reproducibility) of the BMD measurements is the key factor in detecting changes in patient BMD over time.

GE Lunar bone densitometers continue to set new landmarks in clinical value with high-performance applications, advanced clinical utility, and the unique enCORE™ software platform.

Clinical Guidelines

The World Health Organization (WHO) has established definitions based on bone density measurement at any skeletal site.

• Osteoporosis-Related Links

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