OBJECTIVE
Comparative evaluation of the clinical and commercial effectiveness of two approaches to identifying patients at high fracture risk using the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) indications for DXA densitometry, and the FRAX 10-year fracture risk calculation.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A multicenter, single-center study was conducted in a cohort of residents of 6 cities of the Russian Federation, including 4042 postmenopausal women aged 40 years and older who were not receiving bone-sparing agents. Two approaches to identifying patients at high risk of fracture were analyzed: referral of patients for densitometry based on the 2019 ISCD recommendations and identification of patients at high fracture risk based on a 10-year fracture risk calculation using the FRAX algorithm. Test methods diagnostic value parameters: sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, as well as the cost of identifying one patient at high fracture risk, were evaluated.
RESULTS
Search strategy for patients at high fracture risk based on the ISCD recommendations led to an unreasonably high number of densitometric studies and increased diagnostic costs. The FRAX algorithm helped identify more patients at high fracture risk with optimal use of the DXA resource. When comparing the proportion of subjects who needed diagnostic densitometry, the rates were 71.4% and 54.0% for ISCD and FRAX, respectively (p=0.0001). The sensitivity of mFRAX in detecting osteoporosis by densitometry was 86.3%, while the ISCD guidelines were 85.1% (p=0.07). The FRAX method demonstrated higher specificity (43.4 and 31.9%, respectively; p=0.002) and precision (55.4 and 42.2%, respectively; p=0.001). FRAX method reduced the cost per high fracture risk diagnosis by a factor of 1.9 compared to ISCD guidelines.
CONCLUSION
Thus, FRAX proved to be a more effective method of identifying patients at high fracture risk. With sensitivity comparable to the ISCD guidelines, FRAX has higher specificity and precision, resulting in minimized costs for diagnosing high fracture risk.