The USPSTF recommends screening for osteoporosis in

• Women aged 65 years or older and
• Younger women whose fracture risk is equal to or greater than that of a 65-year-old white woman who has no additional risk factors

• Men
  • Concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for osteoporosis in men
• Re-screening
  • There are no current guidelines on the value of rescreening women whose initial screening test did not detect osteoporosis is to improve fracture risk prediction

The World Health Organization recognizes three classes of bone loss

• Osteopenia is the term used for minimal bone loss which is still clinically significant. Osteopenia is diagnosed if the bone mineral density test shows a bone loss standard deviation of -1 to -2.5. Patients with osteopenia are deemed up to 250 percent more likely to experience a bone fracture than a healthy person.

• Osteoprosis: A bone loss of greater than -2.5 is diagnosed as osteoporosis.

• Severe osteoporosis is diagnosed if the bone loss is -2.5 or greater and at least one fracture has occurred that is related to bone loss.