USPSTF Updates Screening Recommendations for Osteoporosis

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) updated its 2011 recommendation about osteoporosis screening.

Accoring to the new guidelines, the USPSTF recommends that women over the age of 65 years continue get screened and issues new information about how clinicians should use screening tools to evaluate women younger than 65 years at high risk for developing the bone disease.

Risk factors should be determined by clinical tools to determine fracture risk assessment, which the USPSTF determined have benefit. The task force's recommendations were published Tuesday in JAMA.

Many people will not know they have osteoporosis, a skeletal disorder characterized by loss of bone mass, deterioration of bone tissue, and decline in bone quality, until they have a fracture. In some cases, fractures can lead to disability, chronic pain, loss of independence, lower quality of life, and even death. About 21% to 30% of patients who experience a hip fracture die within 1 year.

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