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Home > Do You Need a Bone Density Scan?
Do You Need a Bone Density Scan?
If you’re past menopause, it’s just as important as
As many as 44 million Americans—80 percent of them women—have bone mineral density so low they’re at risk for crippling fractures, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Could you be one of them? The only way to find out is a bone density test.
“Since postmenopausal women are more likely to break a hip from osteoporosis than to get breast cancer, a bone density scan is just as important as a mammogram,” says Albert Peters, D.O., director of the Metabolic Bone Diseases Program at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.
The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends that all women over age 65 have a bone density scan. You need one before that if you’re past menopause and have risk factors for osteoporosis (see below). In fact, premenopausal women with certain conditions, such as long-term steroid use, also are candidates for testing. Since bone loss occurs most rapidly in the first six years after menopause, Peters and many others think all women should get a baseline screening at menopause (usually in the early 50s). It’s useful for comparison later, and if you need treatment, you can get started before bone loss progresses.
There are two different technologies for testing bone loss:
- Peripheral heel screening—a type of ultrasound offered by many pharmacies and doctors’ offices for about $30 without a prescription.
- DEXA (dual x-ray absorptometry)—performed in an X-ray lab with equipment that scans the hip, femur and spine. DEXA costs about $120 and requires a doctor’s prescription. Radiation exposure is low—about the same as a cross-country airplane trip.
DEXA is much more useful than heel screening because it gives detailed information and scans the areas where fractures are most likely. The biggest deterrent to getting DEXA is that many health insurers don’t cover it as a screening test. “Depending on the policy, some insurers will provide coverage based on an individual’s medical history or risk factors,” says obstetrician/gynecologist Thomas Hutchinson, M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “If you have risk factors, discuss the issue with your physician.”
How often should you have a DEXA scan? Measurable changes in bone density don’t happen quickly, so even if your doctor puts you on a bone-stabilizing regimen, wait 18 months to two years before getting a follow-up test.
What You Can Do to Prevent OsteoporosisOsteoporosis causes over a million fractures each year, some of them crippling or even life-threatening. To reduce your risk:
- Get moving. Thirty minutes a day of weight-bearing exercise—such as walking, biking or aerobics—is a great way to build and maintain strong bones. Strength training—such as lifting weights—also is important. It keeps your bones strong and builds stronger muscles and more limber joints. Inactivity causes your bones to lose calcium. Over time, this reduces bone mass and makes bones more prone to fracture.
- Watch your nutrition. Before menopause, a woman needs 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily; after menopause, 1,500 milligrams. And you need vitamin D (400 international units, or IU, daily) to absorb calcium. Since it’s difficult to get all the calcium you need in your diet, taking a supplement is a good idea for most women.
- Don’t smoke or overdo alcohol. Smoking raises your risk of bone loss; so does consuming more than one alcoholic drink a day.
- Look carefully at hormone replacement. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) reduces the risk for osteoporosis, which rises sharply in the first few years after menopause. However, new research findings indicate that HRT raises the risk for heart attack, stroke and breast cancer. The HRT decision is highly individual; talk to your doctor.
- Consider osteoporosis-preventing drugs such as Fosamax and Evista, especially if you are at high risk for osteoporosis because of family history or if your doctor finds that you have some degree of bone loss.
- Start prevention early. Adolescent girls with eating disorders are at high risk for developing osteoporosis. Make sure your children get the nutrition they need to build strong bones.
Want to Know More? For information on osteoporosis prevention call 610-402-CARE.
This page last updated 2/12/08 04:08 PM
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