The UK National Screening Committee opened a consultation on 15 July 2026 on whether women should be offered screening for osteoporosis.
The consultation asks for views on the case for screening and the evidence behind any future programme. The committee’s secretariat, based within the Department of Health and Social Care, manages governance, evidence review, stakeholder engagement, public consultations and communications, and the wider screening process began its 2026 annual call for topics on 1 July.
Osteoporosis is a slow-moving condition and often stays hidden for years until a fall or sudden impact leads to a fracture. Common injuries are broken wrist, broken hip and broken vertebrae.
The UK NSC applies the same questions to all population programmes: whether it finds risk early enough to change outcomes, whether the benefits outweigh harms such as false positives and overdiagnosis, and whether the NHS can deliver it fairly and effectively. A narrow age-based programme could miss women whose risk rises earlier, including those with early menopause, premature ovarian insufficiency, low body weight, smoking, certain medicines or a family history of fractures.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence lists menopause, smoking, alcohol, oral corticosteroids, previous fragility fracture, female sex and increasing age among osteoporosis risk factors. The National Osteoporosis Guideline Group was established in 2007. The British Menopause Society says treatment should be directed to individual women’s needs.
The UK NSC’s last review in 2019 did not recommend screening for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, and a policy paper dated 20 March 2013 also said a national screening programme was not recommended. The new consultation follows an evidence map of literature published since the 2019 review.
The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening for osteoporosis in women aged 65 and older, and for younger postmenopausal women at increased risk. The International Osteoporosis Foundation’s Epidemiology/Quality of Life Working Group asked in 2022 whether it is time to consider population screening in postmenopausal women.