USPSTF: Screen All Older Women for Osteoporosis

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently released a draft statement with recommendations on screening for osteoporosis.

Overall, the recommendations are consistent with the 2011 USPSTF recommendations with only 1 major change, which expanded the consideration of evidence related to fracture risk assessment with or without bone mineral density (BMD) testing.
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Among the recommendations:

• Women age 65 years and older should be screened for osteoporosis using bone measurement testing.
• Postmenopausal women younger than 65 years of age and with a high risk for osteoporosis should be screen using a formal risk assessment tool, such as FRAX.

The USPSTF also concluded that current evidence was insufficient to fully assess the benefits and harms of screening in men.

This draft is open for public comments until December 4, 2017 at 8 pm Eastern time.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Draft Recommendation Statement: Osteoporosis to Prevent Fractures: Screening. https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/draft-recommendation-statement/osteoporosis-screening1. Accessed November 9, 2017.