Practical issues in bone mineral density testing.

Osteoporotic fractures are a source of morbidity and mortality among postmenopausal women. Clinicians must strive to identify women at risk for osteoporotic fracture and institute proper prophylactic or treatment regimens to decrease the incidence of fractures. The advent of more sensitive, less expensive, and portable bone mineral density assessment techniques, coupled with new strategies for identifying risk factors, has made it easier for clinicians to diagnose this debilitating disease before a fracture occurs. The hope is that bone mineral density testing will result in the early identification of women at risk for osteoporosis, thereby reducing the incidence of osteoporotic fractures.