Clinical Utility of Biochemical Marker of Bone Turnover: Fracture Risk Prediction and Bone Healing

Bone turnover markers (BTMs) are released during bone remodeling and are thought to reflect the metabolic activity of bone at the cellular level. This review examines BTM as a biological response marker for monitoring future fracture prediction and fracture healing processes. Substantial evidence has been of high value to investigate the use of BTM in fracture risk prediction; nevertheless, the conclusions of some studies are inconsistent due to their large variability. BTM is promising for fracture risk prediction for adopting international reference standards or providing absolute risks, such as 10-year fracture probabilities. There are uncertainties over their clinical use for monitoring osteoporotic fracture healing. More rigorous evidence is needed that can provide more detailed insights for fracture healing and for ascertaining the progression of fracture healing.