WASHINGTON — Bone tests aren’t just for women anymore. New guidelines are calling for older men to get a routine check for bone-thinning osteoporosis.
There’s news for women, too: A new computerized tool uses more than bone- density tests to predict who is at highest risk of breaking a bone in coming years — by adding in such important risk factors as whether a parent ever broke a hip. It’s an effort to better target who really needs treatment and who can safely skip it, even before someone’s bones become thin enough to be officially labeled an osteoporosis patient.
The National Osteoporosis Foundation issued the new guidelines last week. They recommend a bone-mineral density X-ray test for all men 70 and older.
A quarter of hip fractures occur in men, and as men live longer, the number who break a hip is steadily rising, Dr. Jay Magaziner of the University of Maryland medical school said.
