Guideline 71: Management of osteoporosis

Management of osteoporosis
Annex 1

Glossary

AP spine	Anteroposterior spine
Biochemical marker of bone turnover	Chemical compounds that can be identified in blood or urine that are known to indicate either formation of new bone, or bone resorption
BMD	Bone Mineral Density
DEXA	See Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry
Dowager’s hump	An abnormal outward curvature of the vertebrae of the upper back. Compression of the anterior portion of the involved vertebrae leads to forward bending of the spine (kyphosis) and creates a hump at the upper back.
Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry	A technique for measuring BMD using a specially designed scanner based on the use of two X-ray beams at different energy levels.
DXA	See Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry
Kyphosis	Outward curvature of the spine, causing a humped back (See also Dowager’s hump)
Low impact fracture	A fracture occurring in the absence of major trauma.
Morphometric fracture	Fracture identified by a change in shape of a bone, rather than from pain or other symptoms
NHANES	National Health and Nutrition Survey
Osteopaenia	Bone mineral density between 1 standard deviation and 2.5 standard deviations below the young normal mean
Osteoporosis	Bone mineral density more than 2.5 standard deviations below the young normal mean
PDXA	Peripheral Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry
pQCT	Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography
Quantitative Computed Tomography	A technique for assessing BMD using a standard CT scanner
QCT	See Quantitative Computed Tomography
Secondary prevention of fracture	Prevention of further fractures in a patient who has sustained a low impact fracture
SERM	Selective Estrogen-Receptor Modulator
SEXA	See Single-energy X-ray Absorptiometry
Single-energy X-ray Absorptiometry	A technique for measuring BMD based on the use of a single-energy X-ray beam.
Single Photon Absorptiometry	A technique for measuring BMD based on the use of a radioactive source.
SPA	See Single Photon Absorptiometry
SXA	See Single-energy X-ray Absorptiometry
T-score	The number of standard deviations by which a patients BMD differs from the mean peak BMD for young normal subjects of the same gender.
Z-score	The number of standard deviations by which a patients BMD differs from the mean for subjects of the same age.