Osteoporosis Diagnosis in Men: The T-Score Controversy Revisited

Osteoporosis becomes common with aging in both sexes, but is often ignored in men. The 2013 International Society for Clinical Densitometry consensus conference endorsed a Caucasian female referent database for T-score calculation in men. This recommendation has generated controversy and concern. Accumulating data indicate that at the same DXA-measured body mineral density (BMD) (g/cm²), men and women are at approximately the same fracture risk. With this point in mind, using the same database to derive the T-score in men and women is reasonable. As a result, a greater proportion of men who sustain a fragility fracture will have T-scores that are higher than they would if a male database were used; in fact, many men will fracture at T-scores that are “normal.” This highlights the importance of diagnosing osteoporosis not just by T-score, but also by the presence of fragility fracture and/or by estimations of fracture risk as generated by tools such as the FRAX calculator. The practical consequences of this change in densitometric definition of osteoporosis in men should be monitored, including the proportion of men at risk identified and treated as well as defining the response to treatment in those assessed by this more comprehensive approach.