Most patients at risk for osteoporosis have an x-ray assessment (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, or DXA) of their bone mineral density.  It is an expensive test that is done in a clinic.  Crescent Diagnostics (Dublin, Ireland), however, has a cheaper and more convenient alternative in its mail-in test that measures keratin levels in nail clippings as a surrogate for collagen, indicating bone quality.  Actually, it is not an equivalent alternative, as Crescent’s results give a probability of fractures occurring over a decade, rather than current values.  The company sees it test as a pre-DXA evaluation. MORE