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Bone Mineral Density

Osteoporosis and associated fractures are a major cause of illness, disability and death in older people, especially in postmenopausal women. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the annual number of hip fractures worldwide will rise from 1.7 million in 1990 to around 6.3 million by 2050. WHO has established dual-energy X ray absorptiometry (DXA) as the best densitometric technique for assessing bone mineral density in postmenopausal women and based the classification of osteoporosis on its results. The IAEA provides information on the theoretical background as well as the practical application of DXA in the related links to the right.