Improving Secondary Prevention in Fragility Fracture Patients:The Impact of a Simple Clinical Information Procedure

Abstract

by DEXA screening, and 14.6% received specific osteoporosis treatment following their low-trauma fracture. It is concluded that a simple infor-mation procedure does not improve the management of osteoporosis efficiently. The rate neither of diagnostic nor thera-peutic procedures for osteoporosis is increased in fragility fracture patients managed in a fracture clinic. The rea-sons for the insufficient secondary pre-vention measures are discussed. BACKGROUND Osteoporosis as a major public health problem not only leads to fracture interventions, functional disability, and increased mortality, but also to an indi-vidual, and often sustained, loss of qual-ity of life.1,2 Although concomitant diseases are important, increased mor-tality has been documented in recent studies for patients with vertebral frac-tures, as well as for patients with hip fractures.3,4 The tremendous effects of osteoporosis on health care resources KEY WO R D S: fracture clinic interven-t i o n, fragility fractures, osteoporosis Patients with fragility fractures are at high risk of future fractures. The low prevalence of osteoporosis diagnosis and treatment in this population is well known. We examined the effect of a sim-ple information-procedure on post-frac-ture osteoporosis diagnosis and consecutive treatment in a prospective cohort study. During a one-year period, 299 patients, who fulfilled the inclusion crite-ria, were treated for fragility fractures in one department of traumatology. Follow-up was possible for 231 patients, at least 6 months after the fracture event. The mean age of the 231 partici-pants was 68 years for female patients and 65 for male patients; 73.6 % of the participants were female. Only 12 % of the patients with fragility fractures underwent further diagnostic evaluation