Research being published 04 July 2001, in The Journal of the American Medical Association confirms the effectiveness of recommendations made by the National Osteoporosis Foundation in its Physician's Guide to Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis as compared to two other instruments. Scores from the Simple Calculated Osteoporosis Risk Estimation (SCORE), Osteoporosis Risk Assessment Instrument (ORAI) were compared to NOF recommendations and little variation was found. In fact, the three had similar rates of accuracy in identifying women who would benefit from DXA testing. The study did find, however, that two other instruments based on Age, Body Size, No Estrogen (ABONE) and "weight-only" were inadequate for identifying at-risk women who should be screened.

"This important research makes clear that testing determinations cannot be made based solely on age, body size, estrogen status or weight," said Sandra C. Raymond, executive director of NOF. "The findings demonstrate that osteoporosis experts are moving toward a consensus in determining which individuals are at greatest risk for this preventable and treatable disease."

Lawrence G. Raisz, MD, chairman of NOF's Scientific Advisory Board, said, "Overall, the proportion of women recommended to be screened by the three different methods is more similar than different. In fact, the actual number of women screened according to NOF recommendations is only slightly higher than with SCORE and ORAI. And, is that so bad? Simple logic dictates that if you cut down on the number of tests, you are going to miss more women who actually have low bone density and are at significantly greater risk of serious fractures."

Raisz also pointed out that the ORAI and NOF both recommend DXA testing for all women over 65. He said, "It is very important to note that the research does not tie the recommendation to be tested to fracture risk. Therefore, you cannot say that one approach does a better job or is more accurate with respect to fractures." Determining fracture risk is vitally important since the nation spends nearly $14 billion per year on osteoporotic fractures -- fractures of the hip, spine or other bones.

Ms. Raymond concluded, "BMD testing is a cost-effective tool that can identify the hundreds of thousands of men and women who would otherwise suffer life-threatening fractures. The Foundation's goal is to reduce the number of individuals suffering unnecessarily from this preventable and treatable disease. NOF's recommendations guarantee that a maximum number of people with low bone mass are identified and treated."