FRAX is the World Health Organization's fracture-risk algorithm, and this is the Australia-calibrated version — the one tuned to Australian fracture and mortality rates. It estimates your ten-year probability of a major osteoporotic fracture (spine, hip, forearm or shoulder) and, separately, of a hip fracture.

It is for adults thinking about bone health, especially around and after menopause or once you are over 50, whether or not you have had a bone-density scan. You can run FRAX with or without a bone-density (DXA) result; entering the result sharpens the estimate.

The calculation happens in your browser and nothing is saved. The output is built to be read alongside the published Australian action lines, so you arrive at a GP conversation with the right next question already framed.

General information to help you prepare for your GP — not a diagnosis, not personal medical advice.

Dr HB LoIntegrative GP FRAX fracture-risk calculator

Bone health · 10-year fracture risk · Australian-calibrated FRAX

Your 10-year fracture risk is one number — but the strongest thing that pushes it up is usually a bone you've already broken, and most people are never told that.

This is an Australian-calibrated FRAX estimate, reproduced for education. A few quick details, worked out on your device. Nothing you type leaves your browser. It works even if you've never had a bone scan.

This estimates future risk over years — it can't tell if something is wrong right now. If you've just had a fall or think you've broken something, see a doctor today.

I need your age, sex, height and weight to start.

FRAX works for ages 40 to 90.

years
Sex recorded at birth

FRAX is calibrated on sex recorded at birth — it needs this to estimate bone biology, not identity. See the note below the form.

kg
cm
Have you broken a bone as an adult, from a minor fall or knock?

A bone that broke from standing height or less — a 'fragility fracture'. This matters more than almost anything else here.

A few more things that change the number
Did your mother or father ever break a hip?
Do you smoke now?
Are you on, or have you been on, steroid tablets (like prednisolone) for more than 3 months?

Inhalers and creams don't count — this is tablets.

Have you been told you have rheumatoid arthritis?

The autoimmune kind — not general 'arthritis' or osteoarthritis.

Any of these: early menopause (before 45), coeliac disease, type 1 diabetes, long-term liver disease, overactive thyroid?
Do you usually have 3 or more standard drinks a day?
Have you had a bone scan (DXA)? Add the result for a sharper estimate

Leave blank if you've never had one — the tool still works. This is the single number that makes the estimate most accurate. Enter the femoral-neck T-score (the one with a minus sign, like −2.1).

T-score

I need your age, sex, height and weight to start.

Or try an example — tap to fill it in and see the card:

FRAX is calibrated on sex recorded at birth because it estimates bone biology, not identity. If this doesn't fit you, your GP can interpret the number in your context — we'd rather be useful than pretend the tool is something it isn't.

Sources cited

Threshold figures (10-year major-fracture >20%, hip >3%) and the FRAX-AU calibration verified 2026-06-09 via WebSearch against the MJA 2024 RACGP/Healthy Bones guideline, the Sheffield FRAX tool, and the Geelong Osteoporosis Study validation. Re-verify before go-live and on each major rebuild.

Build note: the on-device estimate is a transparent FRAX-style surrogate model used for the educational preview only; before go-live drhblo will embed/iframe or licence the official Sheffield FRAX-Australia algorithm under Sheffield's terms — licensing is a human/build gate to confirm before ship. Awaiting Dr HB Lo clinical sign-off of the three printed questions, the threshold-framing strings, the risk-driver ranking, and the honesty-panel limits (noindex until signed off).

How to read your result

FRAX returns two ten-year percentages: one for a major osteoporotic fracture and one for hip fracture specifically. Australian guidance commonly treats a major-fracture risk around 20% or a hip-fracture risk around 3% as the level at which treatment is usually discussed — but those are conversation thresholds, not automatic switches.

The number is a ten-year probability, not a forecast of a specific break. A 20% major-fracture risk means about one in five people with your profile would have such a fracture over ten years. Bone-density results, previous fractures and parental hip fracture all push the number — which is why FRAX is most useful read together with a DXA scan, not instead of one.

FRAX deliberately does not include fall risk, vitamin D, or how many previous fractures you have had beyond the yes/no — so a person who falls often, or has had several fractures, may be at higher real-world risk than the bare number suggests. That gap is something to raise with your GP.

Australian guideline context

Healthy Bones Australia (the national osteoporosis body, formerly Osteoporosis Australia) and the RACGP osteoporosis guidance both use FRAX and bone-density testing to guide who is offered treatment to reduce fracture risk. The Australian-calibrated FRAX is the version those bodies refer to.

In Australia, a Medicare-rebated bone-density (DXA) scan is available for people who meet certain criteria — including those aged 70 and over, and younger people with specific risk factors. Your GP can tell you whether you qualify and whether a scan would change your FRAX-based plan.

What to do with the result

Bring your two FRAX percentages to your GP and ask whether a bone-density scan (or a repeat scan) is the right next step: "My ten-year major-fracture risk is X% — should I have a DXA scan, and does Medicare cover it for me?" That keeps the decision collaborative.

Weight-bearing exercise, adequate calcium and vitamin D, and not smoking all support bone health, and your GP can help you plan. FRAX is a prompt to have the conversation — it is never a reason to start or stop a bone medicine on your own.

Common questions

Can I use FRAX without a bone-density score?
Yes. FRAX is designed to work with or without a DXA (bone-density) result. Adding the result makes the estimate more precise, but the tool gives a usable ten-year risk from your clinical risk factors alone.
Why are there two numbers?
FRAX reports the ten-year risk of any major osteoporotic fracture and, separately, of a hip fracture — because hip fractures carry particular consequences and have their own treatment threshold in Australian practice.
Does FRAX account for falls?
No — and that is one of its known limits. Someone who falls frequently may be at higher real-world risk than the FRAX number shows. Mention your falls history to your GP so it can be factored in.

Related on this site

Sources

General information to help you prepare for your GP — not a diagnosis, not personal medical advice. This tool does not start, stop or change any medicine. If something is urgent, call 000.

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