OSTEOPOROSIS SCREENING IS RATHER RANDOM (Orthopedics This Week)
A new study of nearly 51,000 women has found that many patients who should be screened for osteoporosis are not…and some of those who do get screened shouldn’t be. The study, published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, comes from the University of California Davis Health System.
The researchers “found that screening rates increased sharply among women at age 50, despite guidelines suggesting screening at age 65 unless risk factors are present. The presence of risk factors only had a modest influence on screening decisions.”
Anna Lee Amarnath, M.D. “assessed the electronic health records of nearly 51,000 women who were between the ages of 40 and 85 and received health care in the Sacramento area. Her evaluation included osteoporosis risk factors and whether or not the women received a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which measures bone mineral density.”
“Over a seven-year period, more than 42% of eligible women between the ages of 65 and 74 years were not screened, nor were nearly 57% of those older than 75, despite the favorable cost-effectiveness of screening in these age groups. In turn, nea...
