Measure Description
Percentage of female patients 50 to 64 years of age without select risk factors for osteoporotic fracture who received an order for a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan during the measurement period
Rationale
This measure is expected to increase recording of patient risk for fracture data and decrease the amount of inappropriate DXA scans. Current osteoporosis guidelines recommend using bone measurement testing to assess osteoporosis risk in women 65 years and older. In postmenopausal women younger than age 65, guidelines recommend using a formal clinical risk assessment tool to establish a patient's risk for osteoporosis, in order to determine whether to screen a patient for osteoporosis using bone measurement testing. Clinical information, such as age, body mass index (BMI), parental hip fracture history, and alcohol use, can be used to determine a woman's fracture risk (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force [USPSTF], 2018). Additionally, there are potentially avoidable harms associated with screening for osteoporosis in general, including exposure to radiation, false positive exams, and resulting side effects from unnecessary osteoporosis medications, which add costs to an already burdened health care system (Lim, Hoeksema, & Sherin, 2009).
Clinical Recommendation Statements
USPSTF:
"The USPSTF recommends screening for osteoporosis with bone measurement testing to prevent osteoporotic fractures in women 65 years and older." This is a B recommendation.
"The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for osteoporosis to prevent osteoporotic fractures in men." This is an I statement.
"The USPSTF recommends screening for osteoporosis with bone measurement testing to prevent osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women younger than 65 years who are at increased risk of osteoporosis, as determined by a formal clinical risk assessment tool." This is a B recommendation.
"For postmenopausal women younger than 65 years who have at least 1 risk factor, a reasonable approach to determine who should be screened with bone measurement testing is to use a clinical risk assessment tool."
"Several tools are available to assess osteoporosis risk: the Simple Calculated Osteoporosis Risk Estimate (SCORE; Merck), Osteoporosis Risk Assessment Instrument (ORAI), Osteoporosis Index of Risk (OSIRIS), and the Osteoporosis Self-Assessment Tool (OST). These tools seem to perform similarly and are moderately accurate at predicting osteoporosis. The FRAX tool (University of Sheffield), which assesses a person's 10-year risk of fracture, is also a commonly used tool."
"Because the benefits of treatment are greater in persons at higher risk of fracture, one approach is to perform bone measurement testing in postmenopausal women younger than 65 years who have a 10-year FRAX risk of major osteoporotic fracture (MOF) (without DXA) greater than that of a 65-year-old white woman without major risk factors. For example, in the United States, a 65-year-old white woman of mean height and weight without major risk factors has a 10-year FRAX risk of MOF of 8.4%."