Range of Dexa T-scores

[orcagirl]

Hi,

Does anyone know of a way to find out what the lower range of Dexa scores are? All I can find is that anything below -2.5 is considered osteoporosis, but I am really curious how low they can go.

Thanks

[Mark_ABH]

Hi orcagirl,

For the other users, here is a good introduction to bone density testing and what your T-score means: americanbonehealth.org/bone...

T-scores can go below -4.0 standard deviations. I don't know if there is a lower limit or what the world record is for lowest T-score ....

[Met00]

I remember asking a similar question when I was first diagnosed. I asked one of the Royal Osteoporosis Society (UK) helpline nurses and was told -4.0 was about the worst it could get, but have since learnt that she was very much mistaken. I've actually heard of someone with a score of -6.0, though I think that must be pretty rare. More to the point, the same person with such a low score hadn't had any fragility fractures. I wouldn't worry too much about your actual scores. Of more relevance are the other factors that increase your risk of fracture, including previous fragility fractures, a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, smoking, high alcohol and caffeine consumption, certain medications, some other health conditions, and family history. These are taken into account when calculating the FRAX fracture risk score, but interestingly, though FRAX also includes t-scores from the DEXA scan, in the UK we also have available (though rarely used) another calculator, QFracture (qfracture.org/), which doesn't use t-scores and yet is considered by some to be more accurate then FRAX!

[Aerobics-Instructor in reply to Met00]

Wow. Thanks for that alternate Qfracture risk calculator! My 10yr risk of any fracture is 5%. I just started Alendronate due to 8 years of slowly declining T scores ending at -3.2 in my spine (hips are -1.6). Never had a fracture despite falls on concrete 2 years ago. With this calculator, I shouldn't be on OP drugs at all. I don't know why the US is so dependent on DEXA scores. I wish REMS would gain acceptance (by hospitals and insurance) so I could get another measure of whether I really need meds or not.

[Met00 in reply to Aerobics-Instructor]

They also use FRAX in the UK, despite QFracture being approved here.

[Maria1360]

At least in the US, typically the information is at the end of your results. It usually is addressed as "National Osteoporosis Foundation" and "WHO Diagnostic Categories".