摘要 : Vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) is cost-effective when it was incorporated in the routine screening for osteoporosis in community-dwelling women aged >= 65 years, which support guidelines, such as the National Osteoporosis Fou... 展开 Vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) is cost-effective when it was incorporated in the routine screening for osteoporosis in community-dwelling women aged >= 65 years, which support guidelines, such as the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) for the diagnostic use of VFA as an important addition to fracture risk assessment. Introduction To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of VFA as a screening tool to reduce future fracture risk in US community-dwelling women aged >= 65 years. Methods An individual-level state-transition cost-effectiveness model from a healthcare perspective was constructed using derived data from published literature. The time horizon was lifetime. Five screening strategies were compared, including no screening at all, central dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) only, VFA only, central DXA followed by VFA if the femoral neck T-score (FN-T) = 65 years, VFA is cost-effective when it was incorporated in routine screening for osteoporosis. Our findings support the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) guidelines for the diagnostic use of VFA as an important addition to fracture risk assessment. 收起