Bone mineral density testing is an effective means of identifying women aged 65 years and older who are at high risk of fracture, according to Jane A. Cauley, Dr.P.H., an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh.
All women aged 65 and over should have a BMD test. In a presentation at the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society, she related the findings of a 2012 study conducted to determine when the test should be repeated. In that study of 4,957 women aged 67 years and older at baseline who underwent baseline T-score testing, the mean interval until 2% of participants had a hip or clinical vertebral fracture was 25 years for women whose baseline bone mineral density (BMD) T-score was greater than or equal to –1.00, 15.4 years for those whose T-score range was –1.01 to –1.49, 5.5 years for those whose T-score range was –1.50 to –1.99, and 5.4 years for those whose T-score was –2.00 to –2.49 (N. Engl. J. Med. 2012;366:225-33).
Also, in women with BMD T-scores greater than –1.50, osteoporosis developed in less than 10% during 15 years of follow-up.
Based on these findings, Dr. Cauley suggested that an initial BMD test should be recommended for all women aged 65 years and older, and that physicians should reassess the testing interval based on the initial result. If the T-score declines, so should the length of the testing interval.
