Osteoporosis: assessing the risk of fragility fracture

Recommendation ID: CG146/2
Question: FRAX and QFracture in adults receiving bone protective therapy:- What is the utility of FRAX and QFracture in adults receiving bone protective therapy?
Any explanatory notes (if applicable): Why this is important:- Because of concerns about rare but serious side-effects of long-term anti-resorptive therapy, many physicians prescribe these drugs for a finite period of time, usually 3–5 years. Reassessment of fracture risk at the end of this treatment period is important, since some people remain at high risk of fracture and require continued treatment whereas others may benefit from a 'drug holiday' for 1 or more years. Neither FRAX nor QFracture has been examined in treated patients, and it is not known whether the ability of clinical risk factors with or without measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) to predict fracture risk is similar in untreated and treated patients. There is therefore a need for prospective studies to investigate the predictive power of these tools to assess fracture risk in patients after a period of bone protective therapy.

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Is this a recommendation for the use of a technology only in the context of research?	No
Is it a recommendation that suggests collection of data or the establishment of a register?	No
Last Reviewed	04/09/2012