Perspective: Ultrastructural Origins of Bone Fragility

Abstract

Bone fragility fractures due to deteriorated tissue quality are a major healthcare con-cern in the healthcare of elderly who are at particularly high risk of bone fractures. Thus, iden-tifying and treating patients at risk is critical in sustaining a healthy life style for the elderly. Currently, bone mass or Bone Mineral Density (BMD) is commonly employed by physicians as a measure to predict the risk of such fractures. However, BMD is often a poor predictor of overall bone quality,1 showing that patients with healthy BMD levels may still be susceptible to fragility fractures.2,3 Hence, reliable prediction of bone fragility fractures requires understand-ing the underlying origins of bone fragility fracture beyond the qualitative estimation provided by BMD measurements.