Observational Study
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World J Rheumatol. Jul 12, 2014; 4(2): 14-21
Published online Jul 12, 2014. doi: 10.5499/wjr.v4.i2.14
Monitoring osteoporosis therapy: Can FRAX help assessing success or failure in achieving treatment goals?
Yasser El Miedany, Maha El Gaafary, Ahmed El Yassaki, Sally Youssef, Annie Nasr, Ihab Ahmed
Yasser El Miedany, Ahmed El Yassaki, Sally Youssef, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Department, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11381, Egypt
Yasser El Miedany, Darent Valley Hospital, Kent, DA2 8DA, United Kingdom
Maha El Gaafary, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11381, Egypt
Annie Nasr, Radiology, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11381, Egypt
Ihab Ahmed, Internal Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11381, Egypt
Author contributions: All authors had a substantial contribution to the conception and design of the study, drafting/revising of the article and final approval of the version to be published.
Correspondence to: Yasser El Miedany, MD, FRCP, Consultant Rheumatologist, Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, Kent, DA2 8DA, United Kingdom. miedanycrd@yahoo.com
Telephone: +44-013-22428420 Fax: +44-013-22428415
Received: April 9, 2014
Revised: June 21, 2014
Accepted: July 5, 2014
Published online: July 12, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: Treatment of osteoporosis should assure that the patient benefits from the treatment without experiencing undue harm. Monitoring of patients treated for osteoporosis has been recommended and so far dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry has been recognized as the tool to monitor osteoporosis therapy by several clinical practice guidelines. Recently, the duration of osteoporosis therapy became a research question with the possibility of having a drug holiday. However, more research is still needed to adequately assess when to stop the osteoporosis therapy and what is the optimal duration of the drug holiday. This work was carried out aiming at determining whether the World Health Organization fracture risk assessment tool can be used as a tool to monitor patients receiving osteoporosis treatment and to evaluate its ability to predict new low trauma fractures.