Bone Mineral Density Measurement in the Management of Osteoporosis: A Public Health Perspective

Abstract

The chapter starts with a description of the epidemiology of osteoporosis including the resource consequences of dealing with the associated fractures. It then outlines some guiding public health principles for osteoporosis services, including bone mineral densitometry (BMD), provision and describes the current situation for osteoporosis in regard to these. It then examines the salient features of a diagnostic test since these have a bearing on the use of BMD tests - their relevance to measuring BMD is also discussed. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the population screening versus use of BMD for case finding debate and outlines the current criteria for the use of BMD measurement.