Bone densitometry (DXA)
Bone densitometry measures bone mineral density by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at the hip and lumbar spine, reported as a T-score, to diagnose osteoporosis and quantify fracture risk. Aliases across markets include DEXA, MOC, osteodensitometrie, densitometria osea and Knochendichtemessung. The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening from age 65 and earlier for at-risk postmenopausal women; the International Society for Clinical Densitometry sets technical standards. In the Atlas it is the most reliable hard modality in the women's health pillar and the clearest discriminator between operators delivering healthspan and those delivering symptom relief. Evidence tier: well-evidenced.
What it is
Bone densitometry measures bone mineral density, almost always by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at the hip and lumbar spine, to diagnose osteoporosis and quantify fracture risk. It is recorded here with its market aliases attached rather than as several terms: DXA and DEXA in English-language markets, MOC (mineralometria ossea computerizzata) in Italy, osteodensitometrie in France, densitometria osea in Spanish-speaking markets, densitometria ossea in Brazil and Italy, and Knochendichtemessung in German. The US Preventive Services Task Force names DXA bone mineral density as the screening test and recommends screening for women aged 65 and older, and for younger postmenopausal women at increased risk. The International Society for Clinical Densitometry sets the technical standards for acquisition, analysis and reporting. Within this Atlas bone densitometry is the most reliable hard modality in the women's health pillar and its single best quality discriminator: a menopause clinic that offers it is making a healthspan claim it can evidence, while most menopause telehealth conspicuously does not offer it at all.
Who it is for
Postmenopausal women, who lose bone mineral density most rapidly in the years immediately around the final menstrual period, and for whom fracture is a leading cause of loss of independence in later life. Screening is recommended for all women from 65, and earlier for postmenopausal women with risk factors including low body weight, prior fragility fracture, parental hip fracture, smoking, high alcohol intake, glucocorticoid use, or early or surgical menopause. Women with premature ovarian insufficiency are a priority group. Men with risk factors and adults on long-term glucocorticoids also benefit, and several bone programs in the Atlas serve both sexes even where they sit inside women's hospitals.
What to expect
The scan is quick, painless and low-dose, typically ten to twenty minutes on an open table with no enclosure and no injection, using a radiation dose far below that of a standard chest radiograph. Results are reported as a T-score comparing bone density to a young adult reference and a Z-score comparing to age-matched peers, with osteoporosis defined at a T-score of minus 2.5 or below. Many operators pair the scan with a fracture risk calculation and with vertebral fracture assessment on the same machine. A minority add trabecular bone score, a texture measure of bone microarchitecture derived from the same lumbar spine image, which is the most advanced specification found anywhere in this sweep and appears at Menoclinica by Palacios in Madrid. Repeat intervals are usually one to two years depending on baseline result and treatment. Across the Atlas the scan appears both as a standalone diagnostic in a bone program and as a line item inside a priced women's comprehensive health check.
History and background
Dual-photon absorptiometry gave way to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in the late 1980s, which made accurate central-site bone density measurement fast and low-dose enough for routine clinical use. The World Health Organization's 1994 diagnostic thresholds, defining osteoporosis by T-score, gave the measurement a diagnostic category and made it comparable across machines and countries. Fracture risk calculators developed through the 2000s embedded density in a broader risk model rather than treating it as a standalone verdict. The International Society for Clinical Densitometry has issued periodic official positions since 1996, most recently in 2023, standardizing acquisition sites, reference databases and reporting. The US Preventive Services Task Force reaffirmed screening for women 65 and older in its 2025 recommendation statement. Trabecular bone score, added in the 2010s, extended the same image into a microarchitecture measure without a second scan.
Worth knowing
This is the clearest menopause to healthspan bridge in the entire pillar, and it is also the sharpest test of whether an operator is selling symptom relief or long-term risk reduction. Most menopause telehealth in the Atlas, including several of the best-funded platforms, has no bone densitometry anywhere on its price list. Standalone women's bone health operators are close to non-existent worldwide: outside hospital systems the sweep behind this branch found essentially two, and bone density otherwise appears only as a line item inside a menopause clinic or a screening bundle. The aliases are not cosmetic. Searching in English for DXA misses the Italian MOC, the French osteodensitometrie and the Brazilian densitometria ossea entirely, and those local terms are what actually surface qualifying clinics in those markets.
Offered across the Atlas 12
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