Common Questions
What are screening recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force?
In 2002, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued updated guidelines based on an exhaustive review of the medical literature and a cost-effectiveness analysis (1-2). These recommendations and their rating, or Grade are listed below.
- Screen all women 65 years of age and older (Grade B*)
- Selectively screen women 60 to 64 based on one of two a validated risk assessment tools (Grade B*):
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- ORAI (Osteoporosis Risk Assessment Instrument) or
- SCORE (Simple Calculated Osteoporosis Risk)
No recommendation for or against screening post-menopausal women less than 60 years of age (Grade C**).
Descriptions and clinical calculators of ORAI and SCORE are available on this site.
The complete recommendation is available on-line.*Grade B: The USPSTF recommends that clinicians routinely provide [the service] to eligible patients. The USPSTF found at least fair evidence that [the service] improves important health outcomes and concludes that benefits outweigh harms.
**Grade C: The USPSTF makes no recommendation for or against routine provision of [the service]. The USPSTF found at least fair evidence that [the service] can improve health outcomes but concludes that the balance of benefits and harms is too close to justify a general recommendation.
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, 2nd Edition. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. 2002. Available online.
- Nelson HD, Helfand M, Woolf SH, et al. Screening for postmenopausal osteoporosis: A review of the evidence for the US Preventive Services Task Force. Ann Intern Med 2002; 137: 529-41.