Biochemical markers of bone turnover part II: clinical applications in the management of osteoporosis.

With the ageing population in most countries, disorders of bone and mineral metabolism are becoming increasingly relevant to every day clinical practice. Consequently, the interest in, and the need for effective measures to be used in the screening, diagnosis and follow-up of such pathologies have markedly grown. Together with clinical and imaging techniques, biochemical tests play an important role in the assessment and differential diagnosis of metabolic bone disease. These biochemical indices are non-invasive, comparatively inexpensive and, when applied and interpreted correctly, helpful tools in the diagnostic and therapeutic assessment of metabolic bone disease. This second part of the two part series reviews the current evidence regarding the clinical use of biochemical markers of bone remodelling in the management of osteoporosis.