Calcium and fracture risk calculators

[Met00]

I've just come across a couple of useful tools. One to help you calculate the amount of calcium in your diet (very easy to use and I think it's accurate):

cgem.ed.ac.uk/research/rheu...

And the other is an alternative to the FRAX tool for calculating your 10 year risk of fracture: qfracture.org/index.php . It doesn't use t-scores, but is claimed to be more accurate (see medscape.com/viewarticle/85... - you can only see the start of the article, but it's clear in the first paragraph).

[Bemoresquirrel]

Hi Met00, Many thanks for your post. The calculators are really useful! Unfortunately, the links just take me to the home pages (I’ve had the same problem with posting links).

I found a different link to the calcium calculator (thanks to google):

cgem.ed.ac.uk/research/rheu...

It is very helpful, reassuring & good to refer to, especially as I’ve turned down the meds offered by my GP. It made my day to find out that a pizza with cheese is on the list! 😄 🍕

The Qfracuture calculator is interesting, as my risk is much lower than the one given to me after my DEXA scan, which was good news!

Also of interest, was the increased risk had I remained on my fibromyalgia meds (an anti-epileptic drug and an antidepressant). It has made the 18 months it took to come off them and the withdrawal effects, well worth while!

Could you let me know the name of the Medscape article, so I can google it, please. 🙂

Many thanks,

Rosey

[Met00 in reply to Bemoresquirrel]

I don't know why, but I can get into the article from my original link, but if I copy the link it just takes me to the medscape log in page! Here's a copy of what the link takes you to, the name of the article is at the top:

FRAX, GARVAN Seen as Best for Predicting Fracture Risk

Janis C. Kelly

October 21, 2015

A new systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 tools for predicting osteoporotic fracture risk found that most were feasible in clinical practice; the World Health Organization Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) was the most validated instrument, whereas the QFracture score (designed to be used with electronic medical records) was the most accurate.

[Met00]

I've updated the link to the calcium calculator in my original post, hopefully that's working now. Unfortunately the link to the medscape article doesn't work, but if you google "FRAX, Garvan seen as best for predicting fracture risk - medscape", you'll get a link to the start of the article!

[Bemoresquirrel in reply to Met00]

Many thanks, that’s great! I’ve put the link below and at the bottom of the second page, there is link to the full research article.

medscape.com/viewarticle/85...

[Fran57]

Thanks; useful, and reassuring.

Fran 😉

[Met00]

Thanks, I've now edited my original post so that the link works.