New Simple Osteoporosis Self-Screening

I know that many of you are worried about osteoporosis. If you are not, particularly if you are a woman and/or skinny, you should be.

Researchers came up with a simple self-test to see if you should go get a DXA scan. You take your weight in kilograms, subtract your age and then multiply by 0.2.

Lets work through an example for someone who is 50 years old and weighs 150 lb:

1) Get your weight in kilograms. 150 lb/2.2 = 68 kg.

2) Take your weight in kilograms and subtract your age. 68 (kg) – 50 (years) = 18.

3) Now multiply by 0.2. 18 x 0.2 = 3.6.

In the study they recommend that you get your bones checked with a DXA scan if your score on this self-test is less than 2.

I really can’t explain why they added the last step of multiplying by 0.2. It seems simpler to say that if your weight in kilograms is less than your age minus 10 get checked. So, for our example:

68 (kg) – 50 (years) = 18, which is greater than 10; OK for now.

Anyway, this does NOT mean that if you pass this quick screen you can forget about it, or ignore your doctor’s advice to get a screening. But if you fail, as Shakespeare once said, “Get thee to a DXA scanner!”

Dental X-rays for Osteoporosis Screening?

In the future will your dentist be checking you for osteoporosis? A new study in the journal, Bone, looks at the idea of using dental x-rays as a screening test for osteoporosis.

Don’t throw the DXA scanner just yet. While the technology may improve, in this study just less than a quarter of bone density changes were explained by the dental images.

So, back to the drawing board – or, at least to your local DXA scanner.