[Absolute risk for fracture and WHO guideline. Fracture risk assessments recommended by World Health Organization and Japanese guidelines for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis 2006].

Bone mineral density (BMD) is a strong predictor of osteoporotic fractures. However, the increase in fracture risk is not steep, rather gentle, for the decline in BMD values. Postmenopausal women with osteopenia (T scores between - 2.5 and - 1.0) may also be at risk. Case finding strategies such as the combination of BMD and appropriate clinical risk factors for fracture are shown to identify subjects at high fracture risk. World Health Organization developed a fracture risk assessment tool, recommending its exploitation in the case findings. Under these circumstances, Japan guideline 2006 provided new criteria for the pharmacological intervention to prevent fragility fracture, besides the conventional criteria for diagnosing osteoporosis.