Biochemical Markers of Bone Metabolism, Prediction of Fracture in Elderly Women
I’m a little surprise at this article. The authors determined that urinary markers of bone turnover are a good predictor of verterbral fracture risk in elderly women. However, these markers have been commercially available for years. Oh well–it’s still nice to see the acknowledgement of these tests in the medical literature anyway.
Bone mineral density has been used for too long as a stand alone test for bone health when it is only a snapshot of bone and does not tell how fast or how slow you’re losing bone. Also, there is some concern that bone density does not always equal bone strenth. The crosslinks in bone are very important in the tensile strength of bone, and these are not adequately evaluated by DEXA scans.
http://www.jbmr-online.com – Biochemical Markers of Bone Metabolism and Prediction of Fracture in Elderly Women.