Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41484180›Full record

ArticleJournal of bone and mineral metabolism2026

Fracture risk prediction, treatment thresholds, and the role of bone mineral density: a comparative analysis of FRAX and SHAFRE.

Anna Nordström, Marcel Ballin, Viktor Ahlqvist, Peter Nordström

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of bone and mineral metabolism, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Anna NordströmDepartment of Medical Sciences, Rehabilitation Medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Marcel BallinDepartment of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Geriatrics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Viktor AhlqvistDepartment of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Geriatrics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Peter NordströmDepartment of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Geriatrics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Peter.nordstrom@uu.se.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2924-508X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionAccurate prediction of fracture risk is important for treatment decisions, yet evaluations of commonly used thresholds are limited, and the added value of volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) remains uncertain. We conducted the first head-to-head comparison of the SHAFRE and FRAX algorithms using identical predictor information. MATERIALS AND

methodsWe included 3525 community-dwelling Swedish men and women (mean age 71.4 years) who underwent a health examination with femoral neck areal BMD (aBMD) and radial vBMD. Incident fractures were retrieved from the National Patient Register. Model performance was evaluated using threshold-specific sensitivity and specificity.

resultsOver a mean follow-up of 8.7 years, 559 participants sustained a fracture. SHAFRE predicted a mean 10-year fracture risk of 21.9% in those who fractured versus 15.6% in the remaining cohort (ROC-area: 68%, 95% CI: 66-71%). Corresponding FRAX values were 16.7% and 12.6% (ROC-area: 66%, 95% CI: 63-68%), and FRAX slightly underestimated fracture risk in this cohort. Adding radial vBMD on top of aBMD did not materially improve discrimination for SHAFRE (70%, 95% CI: 67-72%) or FRAX (68%, 95% CI: 65-70%). Threshold-specific analysis identified an optimal predicted risk threshold of 13-17%, consistently below the commonly recommended 20%.

conclusionsPredictive ability for major fractures remained modest for both algorithms and was not improved by adding vBMD. The estimated optimal threshold for treatment initiation was lower than the commonly recommended 20%. These findings reinforce that discrimination is substantially stronger for hip fracture than for major osteoporotic fractures.

Indexed as

AlgorithmsBone DensityFractures, BoneAgedFemaleFemur NeckHumansMaleMiddle AgedPrediction AlgorithmsRisk AssessmentRisk FactorsFracturesFRAXPredictionSHAFRE

Identifiers

PMID41484180
PMCPMC13246558

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.