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New Tool Predicts Ten-year risk of Osteoporotic Fracture
Along side and important new report on osteoporosis assessment at the primary health care level, an online practical tool, named FRAXTM, (http://www.shef.ac.uk/FRAX) has been developed to allow users to predict 10-year risk of fracture in men and women. Click here to read more
Authored by Prof. John Kanis et al. the technical report is based on epidemiological and health economic analyses of population-based cohorts worldwide. Prof Kanis states, “Cost-effectiveness studies of specific drugs have shown that treating patients on the basis of fracture risk is more cost-effective than treating osteoporotic patients identified only according to bone mineral density (BMD) measurements, for example using the former WHO definition of osteoporosis (1994). The new FRAX™ web tool provides health professionals with the calculator they need to make a more relevant assessment of fracture risk, even when they don’t have access to BMD testing.”
An individual’s risk factors such as age, sex, weight, height and femoral neck BMD if available are entered into the FRAX™ website, along with information on prior fragility fracture, parental history of hip fracture, current tobacco smoking, long-term use of glucocorticoids, rheumatoid arthritis, other causes of secondary osteoporosis and daily alcohol consumption. The web-based FRAX™ algorithm then gives a figure indicating a 10-year fracture probability as a percentage, which provides guidance for determining access to treatment in healthcare systems.
1. Kanis JA on behalf of the World Health Organization Scientific Group (2008) Assessment of osteoporosis at the primary health care level. Technical Report. World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Metabolic Bone Diseases. University of Sheffield, UK.
2. World Health Organization. Assessment of osteoporosis at the primary health care level. Summary Report of a WHO Scientific Group. WHO, Geneva. http://www.who.int/chp/topics/rheumatic/en/index.html
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