[Screening techniques].
WOMEN "AT RISK": Assessment of the risk of osteoporosis in a woman approaching the menopause relies essentially on the evaluation of her bone mass and the study of a certain number of clinical criteria. The principle osteoporosis risk markers are age, past personal and family history of fractures due to bone fragility, low body weight, past history of early menopause and all the affections corresponding classically to "secondary" osteoporosis. OSTEODENSITOMETRY: Densitometric measurement is the corner stone of this assessment, since any decrease of 1 in the standard deviation of bone density corresponds to a two-fold greater risk of fracture. This relationship has led to a new densitometric definition of osteoporosis, based on a decrease of more than 2.5 standard deviations compared with the median value of a young adult (t-score < -2.5). THE INTEREST OF BIOCHEMICAL MARKERS: The interest of bone remodeling biochemical markers has not been clearly defined. Combined with densitometric measurements, they may permit the assessment of the level of bone remodeling and hence estimate bone loss, which is one of the determinant factors of fracture risk.
Trémollières
Florence
F
Unité Ménopause et Maladies Osseuses Métaboliques, service d'Endocrinologie, CHU Rangueil, 31403 Toulouse. tremollieres.f@chu-toulouse.fr
Pouillès
Jean-Michel
JM
Ribot
Claude
C
D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D015519:Bone Density; D016723:Bone Remodeling; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology