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Joint IOF-IFCC Bone Marker Standards Working Group


Introduction

This joint partnership will comprise key members of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) and the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), and will seek to identify consensus reference standard bone resorption marker and bone formation marker for fracture risk assessment and monitoring of osteoporosis treatment.

IOF Members:
Cyrus Cooper (co-chair), Olivier Bruyère, Richard Eastell, Joseph Foldes, John Kanis, Michael McClung

IFCC Members:
Samuel Vasikaran (co-chair), Andrea Griesmacher, Howard Morris, Tommaso Trenti

External Co-opted Advisor
Patrick Garnero

Objectives

  • Review literature and identify potential candidates as markers of bone resorption and bone formation.
  • Identify a consensus reference standard marker for bone resorption and for bone formation for fracture risk assessment and monitoring of osteoporosis treatment, including the medium of measurement (serum or urine).
  • Review the performance of the assays for the standard markers and recommend requirement for standardisation of their measurements.
  • Arrive at a consensus on the diagnostic cut-points and/or action limits for the bone turnover marker assays for intervention and alteration of therapy.
  • Consult with key international organisations in order to gain international acceptance of the consensus of the WG and its implementation.
  • Publish guidelines on the use of bone turnover marker assays for fracture risk assessment and monitoring of osteoporosis treatment.
  • Define research questions that need answers in this area.

In December 2010 the IOF-IFCC Working Group published a position paper:

Markers of bone turnover for the prediction of fracture risk and monitoring of osteoporosis treatment: a need for international reference standards. S. Vasikaran, R. Eastell, O. Bruyère, A. J. Foldes and P. Garnero, et al. Osteoporos Int. Volume 22, Number 2, 391-420, DOI: 10.1007/s00198-010-1501-1 . Click here to access on Springer website

See press release
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