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Article: Secondary Osteoporosis: When and How to Work Up.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Family Practice News
- Article date:
- November 15, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 International Medical News Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Bone mineral density testing is particularly useful in identifying patients who need a battery of blood and urine tests to find a secondary cause for their bone loss, Dr. Kohlmeier said.
A bone mineral density (BMD) value that is more than one standard deviation less than age-, ethnicity-, and gender-matched controls warrants an evaluation for secondary causes of the bone loss. And a patient whose BMD measurement shows continued bone loss or a minimal increase in BMD after 2 years of therapy also needs further testing, she said.
Clinical indicators of the need for further evaluation include signs of Cushing's syndrome, Graves' disease, or other ...