Vertebral radiographs remain the best method for assessing the presence of vertebral fractures. Both quantitative morphometric (QM) and semiquantitative morphometric (SQ) techniques are using for the assessment of prevalent as well as incident vertebral fractures on radiographs. Recently, SQ method has been mainly used for clinical study. A prevalent fracture is defined as a vertebral body with a SQ grade of 1 or more, and an incident fracture is defined as an increase of at least 1 grade in a vertebral body. Randomized placebo-controlled double- blind studies indicated that usable drugs in Japan, for example, oral amino- bisphophonates, SERMs, and teriparatide significantly reduced the risk of vertebral fracture, and relative risk reduction were 30 to 65%.