The National Osteoporosis Guideline Group in the UK has developed a new and accurate method for ascertaining at which point an individual needs further diagnostic tests. Rather than depending heavily on measurements of bone mineral density, the UK group suggested that their approach will take into account whether or not the treatment is expected to be cost-effective and what is the risk of someone suffering a fracture.

The new method has proven itself by being the formulation strength behind clinical guidelines for osteoporosis in the UK and is developed by Professor John A. Kanis and colleagues from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Metabolic Bone Diseases at the University of Sheffield Medical School in the UK.

From News-Medical.Net:

Professor Kanis, President of the International Osteoporosis Foundation, comments: “The incorporation of the WHO risk assessment tool FRAX into practice guidelines in the UK is a key development that will target treatment more accurately to those in need and avoid unnecessary treatment in men and women at low risk. I hope that this paper in Osteoporosis International will serve as a template for the development of FRAX-based guidance in other countries.”

The FRAX tool predicts the ten-year risk of men and women suffering a fracture. An individual’s age, sex, weight, height, and femoral BMD, if available, are entered into the web-based tool, followed by clinical risk factors for osteoporosis including a prior fracture, parental history of hip fracture, smoking, long-term use of glucocorticoids (a type of steroid hormone), rheumatoid arthritis and alcohol consumption. The tool then calculates the likelihood of the individual suffering a fracture in the next ten years.

Because this new method for the management of osteoporosis takes into account the likelihood of someone suffering a fracture, rather than relying solely on BMD, or BMD with one or more recognized clinical risk factors, it is an important milestone towards helping health professionals worldwide to identify patients at high risk of fracture more accurately and treat them cost-effectively.

These findings are expected to highly critical and important towards helping medical professionals, all over the world, to treat patients in a more accurate and effective manner.