Male osteoporosis screen advised for some

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Osteoporosis screening may be cost-effective for selected older men depending on their age and if they have had a prior fracture, a U.S. study finds.

Dr. John T. Schousboe of Park Nicollet Health Services in Minneapolis and colleagues conducted a study to estimate the lifetime costs and health benefits of bone densitometry -- measurement of bone density -- followed by five years of oral bisphosphonate -- a class of drugs used to strengthen bone -- therapy for men found to have osteoporosis.

The researchers created a computer simulation model for hypothetical groups of white men age 65, 70, 75, 80 or 85 years, with or without prior clinical fracture. Data from several sources were used to estimate fracture costs and population-based age-specific fracture rates ad associations among prior fractures, bone density and incident fractures.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found the estimated prevalence of femoral neck osteoporosis among men with a prior fracture ranged from 14.5 percent at age 65 years to 33.6 percent at age 85, but densitometry and treatment modestly reduced the absolute 10-year incidence of clinical fractures by a range of 2.1 percent for 65-year-old men without a prior fracture to 4.5 percent among 85-year-old men with a prior fracture.