Endocrine Insider
August 11, 2010

(See full issue)

To increase the rate of osteoporosis screening among men with certain clinical risk factors, The Endocrine Society submitted comments to the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) on the draft update of its 2002 recommendations on osteoporosis screening.  The USPSTF, which makes recommendations on preventive screenings based on clinical evidence, invites public comment on recommendations before they are finalized.  The final recommendations are important as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services bases coverage decisions on the recommendations of the USPSTF.

The USPSTF currently recommends that women ages 65 years and older be screened routinely for osteoporosis, and that routine screening begin at age 60 for women at increased risk for osteoporotic fractures.  This recommendation is expanded in the new draft recommendations, which call for increased screening for women ages 65 years and older and in younger women whose fracture risk is equal to or greater than that of a 65-year-old woman who has no additional risk factors. Despite evidence that men with certain clinical conditions are at higher risk, the USPSTF states that there are insufficient data to support general screening in men.  In its comments, the Society urged the USPSTF to recommend that men predisposed to osteoporosis due to clinical risk factors be screened at the same rate as women with clinical risk factors.

The USPSTF will review all public comments and make final recommendations, possibly by the end of the year.