Seminarios de la Fundación Española de Reumatología

FRAX is a tool that is available online to calculate the risk of fracture from a number of clinical risk factors, whether bone mineral density is known or not. Due to the quality of the data used in its calculation and the methodology employed, FRAX is now probably the preferred method for determining fracture risk. However, this tool has certain limitations and the physician's clinical judgment remains critical, especially for the assessment of risk factors not included in the algorithm such as lumbar bone mineral density or frequency of falls. The wide acceptance and use of FRAX could identify people at high risk of osteoporotic fracture, who are suitable for early intervention and are so far overlooked. Equally, FRAX could help to reduce the number of unnecessary treatments in patients with a low fracture risk. Another potential use of FRAX would be its use in identifying patients with indications for bone densitometry.