Who should be tested for osteoporosis?
The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends bone density measurements for:
- Women age 65 and above
- Post-menopausal women with one or more additional risk factors for osteoporosis
- Post-menopausal women with fractures
- Women considering therapy for osteoporosis
- Women who have been on hormone replacement therapy for prolonged periods of time
Risk factors for osteoporosis include:
- History of osteoporotic fracture
- History of an osteopathic fracture in a first-degree relative
- Being Caucasian or Asian, although African Americans and Hispanic Americans are at signficant risk as well
- Advanced age
- Female sex
- Dementia
- Poor health/frailty
- Medications such as corticosteroids
- Cigarette smoking
- Low body weight (below 127 lbs.)
- Estrogen deficiency
- Low calcium intake
- Alcoholism
- Impaired eyesight despite adequate correction
- Recurrent falls and inadequate physical activity
Back to Osteoporosis
