Assessment of fracture risk.

Osteoporosis-related fractures are associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and health care expenditure worldwide. The low sensitivity of bone density testing alone to predict fractures has led to the development of a variety of fracture assessment tools that use the combination of bone density and clinical risk factors to improve the prediction of low-trauma fractures. These fracture assessment tools quantitatively predict the 10-year probability of hip and major osteoporosis-related fractures, and can be used with various intervention strategies to effectively intervene with cost-effective therapies to prevent future fractures.