Aging & Health A to Z
Osteoporosis
Diagnosis & Tests
In order to check your bone health, your healthcare professional will ask you questions about the osteoporosis risk factors. You will also have a test called a DEXA or DXA scan (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scan). This safe and painless test uses low level x-rays to determine how much calcium you have in your bones. This is called your bone mineral density or bone mass density (BMD). It will probably be measured at your hip and spine. Sometimes, bone density is tested at the wrist or heel using a related test called SXA (single energy x-ray absorptiometry).
To get your BMD—called a “T score”—your healthcare professional compares your DXA results to the DXA score of a young adult with the same body type or a healthy adult of your own age. The World Health Organization BMD classifications are as follows:
- T-score higher than -1.0: healthy bones
- T-score between -1.0 and -2.5: osteopenia, or moderate bone loss
- T-score less than -2.5: osteoporosis
- T-score less than -2.5 with an osteoporotic fracture: severe osteoporosis.
The lower your BMD, or T score, the higher your risk of a fracture. By using your T score and risk factors, your healthcare professional will be able to predict the likelihood of a future fracture, and recommend the right treatment based on this risk.
Your provider may also order blood and urine tests if he or she thinks you may have a medical condition that is causing bone loss.
Who should be tested for bone loss?
The following people should have a DXA scan:
- women over age 65 or men over 70
- postmenopausal women with at least one of the risk factors
- men between 50 and 70 years of age with at least one risk factor
- men or women over age 50 who have broken a bone in the past, especially if the trauma that brought on the fracture was minor
- men or women who take or are contemplating starting medications that raise the risk of osteoporosis
- postmenopausal women who have recently stopped taking hormone supplements
- women who have had early menopause.
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Updated: March 2012
Posted: March 2012