Description: Doing a follow-up bone mineral density (BMD) scan up to eight years after an initial scan doesn't improve doctors' ability to predict fractures in healthy older postmenopausal women, a U.S. study finds.

Currently, guidelines recommend the use of BMD measurements to screen for osteoporosis in women when they reach age 65. There's little evidence to support the use of repeat BMD testing in order to assess a woman's fracture risk, but repeat BMD scans are commonly performed in clinical practice, according to background information in the study.

Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Northwest/Hawaii, Portland, Ore., measured total hip BMD in 4,124 women (average age 72) in 1989 and 1990, and once again an average of eight years later. Between the first and second test the women lost an average of 0.59 percent of their bone mass per year.

After the repeat BMD test, the women were followed for an average of five years in order to record fractures. Du