Bone matters: are density increases necessary to reduce fracture risk?

Abstract

As aconsequence of the exponential BMD/fracture risk relationship,very small increases in BMD can be expected to have very largeeffects on reducing fracture rates (Fig. 1). It is not necessary todouble BMD to reduce fractures by a factor of 2.On the basis of the established relationships betweenBMD, bone strength, and fracture risk, current therapies forreducing fractures have been targeted at reversing bone lossto increase bone strength. Several different therapies havebeen shown to increase bone density and reduce frac-tures.