Osteoporosis; Women Screened Often Unnecessarily

Experts recommend that women aged 65 and over should receive screening for the bone-thinning disease Osteoporosis. However, it is also recommended that women over 50 with additional risk factors for osteoporosis such as smoking get screening too. The additional risk factors include smoking, low body weight (under 127 pounds), having a parent with osteoporosis, especially hip fracture, and a history of a fragility factor since going through the menopause.

However, a recent study has shown that in many cases such screening may be unnecessary, and it was found at a study conducted at a Connecticut clinic that out of 615 women 41 per cent did not meet the criteria for testing.

Lead researcher Dr. Peter F. Schnatz, of the Reading Hospital and Medical Center in Pennsylvania is unsure exactly why they were screened. He said that in some cases women might request screening. He thought that not all doctors are aware of the guidelines concerning the screening for osteoporosis and might consider it best practice to screen all post menopausal women.

Dr Schnatz admitted that the findings were "certainly not encouraging". Apart from wasted money - such screening is expensive as a special type of x-ray is used that measures bone density, known as dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The bone scan itself is simple and non-invasive, but on the other hand if wrongly given, can lead to women receiving treatment they don't actually need.

Following the test, a woman is given a "T-score," which is a comparison of her bone mass against the average bone mass of a healthy, young woman. Dr Schnatz said that some results could just reveal a relatively low bone mass but not actually osteoporosis and the doctor may feel obliged to give treatment.

There are several kinds of treatments for osteoporosis. These may include bisphosphonate medications such as Fosamax, hormones or the drug Evista, which acts as an eostrogen substitute for bones.

However, these treatments do carry side effects which include increased risk of stroke, cancer and heart disease in women taking oestrogen. Evista carries the risk of blood clots, according to past research, while bisphosphonates are linked to thigh bone fracture and bone death of the jaw.

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