Testing for sound bones

Science News, July 19, 2008 by Nathan Seppa

X-ray technology is the gold standard for measuring bone density, but cheaper ultrasound scans can provide useful density measurements, a new study in the July Radiology finds. Idris Guessous of Emory University in Atlanta and colleagues in Switzerland tested ultrasound on one heel each of 6,174 women ages 70 to 85.

The researchers classified participants as having a good score or a poorer one. Over the next three years, roughly 6 percent of those with poor ultrasound scores broke a bone compared with less than 2 percent of the others.