Question

Clinicians should recommend bone mineral density testing in?

Answer 1

Osteoporosis is generally defined as for older women and men, as a pathological condition associated with increased loss of bone mass caused by increased reabsorption.

(or)

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterized by a decrease in bone strength predisposed to an increased risk of fracture when the bone becomes more porous.

Osteopenia is a less severe form of the disease in which bone mass has declined below normal levels, but not to the extent seen in osteoporosis.

When decreased bone mineral can result in an increased risk of fractures mainly at the hip, spine, and wrist.

Approximately 13 to 18% of women in the United States who are at least 50 years old have osteoporosis and an additional 37 to 50 % have osteopenia.

Mainly the risk factors for osteoporotic fractures are :

*A family history of osteoporosis

*Previous fractures

*White race

*Poor nutrition

*Cigarette smoking

*Alcoholism

*Low weight and body mass index

*Oestrogen deficiency

*Early menopause before 45 years of age

*Prolonged premenopausal amenorrhoea

*Poor vision may lead to fall

Clinicians role is to identify the risk factors as early as possible and prescribe adequate screening strategies to detect the osteoporosis and osteopenia as early as possible.

The accurate method for diagnosing osteoporosis is bone mineral density testing.

Clinicians should be recommended a bone mineral density testing based on the patient's risk factors.

Mainly the bone mineral density is recommended for all women who are at postmenopausal and at least 65 years of age.

Clinicians may suggest bone mineral testing for women who are postmenopausal and younger than 65 years and who are at least one risk factor for osteoporosis.

Bone mineral density should be performed on all women who are postmenopausal with fractures to confirm the diagnosis of osteoporosis and its severity.

The test may be sometimes suggested in pre and post-menopausal women with certain diseases or medical conditions such as AIDS, HIV infection, hyperparathyroidism, inflammatory bowel disease, and rheumatoid arthritis and as well as the women who take medications that will lead with an increased risk of osteoporosis such as steroids.

Repeat bone density measurements may be most valuable for patients who are taking medicine to treat osteoporosis to determine the efficacy of the present treatment.

The test may be valuable for patients who are not being treated but have medical conditions that can cause bone loss to determine if they need treatment.

It may also help the clinicians to spot bone loss in people who might otherwise have no symptoms.

The tests are painless, quick and safe and they can give an alert to people to bone loss before they have a fracture

Contraindications :

The Bone Mineral Density should be contraindicated and should not be performed more than every two years in women who do not develop new risk factors.