7 Signs You May Need a Bone Density Test Before Age 65

7 signs you may need a bone density test before 65

1. You’ve broken a bone with little trauma.

If you’ve suffered an everyday injury and wound up with a fracture, it doesn’t speak well of your bone density. “Your bone, by and large, should be able to withstand minor impact in adulthood,” Dr. Templeton says. So breaking a bone with minimal trauma, particularly if it’s happened more than once, suggests you may want to ask your doctor about a DEXA.

2. Your close family member developed osteoporosis at a young age.

“For some of us, our genetics set us up to be either bad bone builders when we are young or big bone losers when we are middle-aged,” Dr. Bukata says. Having a parent or sibling who developed osteoporosis at a younger-than-usual age, say in their 40s or 50s, points to those suboptimal genetics. (One common way osteoporosis shows up is with a broken hip.)

3. You entered menopause before age 45.

Hitting menopause before 45 means spending additional years with less bone-protecting estrogen in your system, which ups your risk of osteoporosis and fractures.

Early menopause can happen as part of medical treatment, for instance in women who take ovary-suppressing medication for a hormone-sensitive condition like endometriosis or cancer and in those who get their ovaries removed. And it can also occur spontaneously in women whose ovaries prematurely slow down production of estrogen.

4. You’re taking corticosteroids long-term.

If you have chronic immune-related issues—for instance severe allergies or asthma, an autoimmune disease like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, or an inflammatory condition like eczema or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)—you might be on an oral corticosteroid like prednisone for several months (or years) at a time. Though the long-term course can be a key part of keeping symptoms at bay, it can also hurt your bones, Dr. Templeton says, by hindering your ability to form and maintain bone tissue.