Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

Screening Men for Osteoporosis

Click for list of published reports
Click for topic nomination form
Click for list of reports in progress

Subscribe to the
ESP Report RSS feed RSS feed icon
Screening Men for Osteoporosis

Investigators: Paul Shekelle, MD, PhD, Brett Munjas, BA, Hau Liu, MD, Elaine Wong, MD, Neil Paige, MD, Caroline Goldzweig, MD, Annie Zhou, MS, and Marika Suttorp, MS.

Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Healthcare System/Southern California/RAND Evidence-based Practice Center

Washington (DC): Department of Veterans Affairs; May 2007.

Download PDF: Complete Report, Executive Summary, Report, Appendices

Summary / Overview

Although 25% of men over the age of 60 will sustain osteoporotic fractures during their lifetime, data suggest that male osteoporosis is underdiganosed and undertreated. In order to help inform decisions about whether the Veterans Health Administration should develop screening guidelines for male osteoporosis, the following Key Questions were analysed in this report:

  1. What are the prevalence of and risk factors for osteopenia, osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures among men in general and among male Veterans specifically?
  2. Are there any validated tools (outside of central bone density) to screen for osteoporosis in men?
  3. What values of bone mineral density (BMD) determined by Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) (and by different DXA techniques) have been used to diagnose osteopenia and osteoporosis; and what is the evidence regarding the relationship between differing definitions and the development of osteoporotic fractures?

See also

Liu H, Paige NM, Goldzweig CL, wong E, Zhou A, Suttorp MJ, Munjas B, Orwoll E, Shekelle P. Screening for osteoporosis in men: a systematic review for an American College of Physicians guideline. Ann Intern Med. 2008; 148(9):685-701.


Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.