Johns Hopkins Health Alert
Personalizing Your Fracture Risk with FRAX
A test for bone mineral density (BMD) has been the primary yardstick physicians use to assess whether someone has osteoporosis or is at high risk for it. In 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced FRAX, a tool designed to calculate a person's 10-year risk of sustaining a fracture.
This new patient-assessment formula, called FRAX (for Fracture Risk Assessment Tool), makes the calculation using a cluster of key risk factors, including your age, gender, weight (body mass index), height, smoking history, alcohol consumption, whether you've had a previous fracture or a parent who broke a hip, and your history of medications and medical conditions that can lead to osteoporosis.
FRAX is best used in conjunction with BMD test scores -- but FRAX can also calculate risk without BMD scores. All of the pertinent information for FRAX can be entered by your doctor into a Web-based program to obtain a result. Software used in BMD equipment will eventually incorporate FRAX.
You can view the formula for FRAX at a website: www.sheffield.ac.uk/FRAX/. If you try the tool yourself online, discuss the results with your doctor rather than making decisions on your own about how you should be classified or about any treatment. Because FRAX is still relatively new, not all doctors are aware of it, so ask about it if your doctor does not bring it up.
Posted in Osteoporosis on November 18, 2011
Medical Disclaimer: This information is not intended to substitute for the advice of a physician. Click here for additional information: Johns Hopkins Health Alerts Disclaimer
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